-    >     V  T    ' 

•S.I    v?^ 


rvk 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  NAMES  OF  STATIONS 


ON   THE   LINE   OF   THE 


ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  CO. 


CHICAGO.  The  word  Chicago  is  understood  to  be 
an  Indian  word ;  at  least,  it  is  derived  from  that  source. 
What  its  precise  meaning  is,  or  whether  it  has  any  partic- 
ular meaning  at  all  in  its  present  form  as  now  applied,  is 
a  matter  of  considerable  dispute  among  those  who  have 
given  the  subject  attention.  The  word  comes  to  us 
through  the  early  French  explorers  of  the  West  as  an 
Indian  word,  from  the  language  of  the  Algonquin  group. 
Whilst  this  group  of  the  North  American  tribes  had  one 
general  or  generic  language  by  which  they  were  distin- 
guished, each  tribe  had  its  dialect,  differing  more  or 
less  from  that  of  the  other  tribes  of  the  same  group. 
The  standard  or  parent  language,  however,  since  this 
people  became  known  to  the  whites,  was  that  spoken 
by  the  Ojibways  (Chippeways),  the  most  powerful  and 
numerous  of  the  various  tribes  of  this  group. 

Those  who  pretend  to  make  any  positive  assertion 
as  to  the  correct  meaning  of  this  word,  as  an  Indian 
word,  seem  to  have  confined  their  investigations  on  the 


subject  to  the  Indian  language  as  spoken  by  the  O jib- 
ways,  without  reference  to  other  dialects ;  seeming  to 
ignore  the  fact  that  it  could  come  from  any  other 
source ;  whereupon,  they  reach  the  conclusion  and  so 
assert,  that  it  means  onion,  garlic,  leek  or  skunk. 

So  far  as  appears  at  this  day,  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  special  inquiry  into  the  origin  or  meaning  of 
this  word  until  about  the  time  of  the  rebuilding  of 
Fort  Dearborn  in  1816.  The  year  following  that 
event,  Col.  Samuel  A.  Starrow  visited  this  place,  and 
in  a  letter  to  Gen.  Jacob  Brown,  of  the  United  States 
army,  refers  to  the  river  here  as  "  the  river  Chicago  (or 
in  the  English,  'Wild  Onion  River')." 

Mr.  Schoolcraft,  the  Indian  historian,  in  his  "Nar- 
rative of  an  Expedition  to  the  Sources  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River  in  1820,"  in  giving  an  account  of  visiting 
Chicago  on  the  return  of  said  expedition,  speaking  of 
the  Chicago  River,  says  :  "  Its  banks  consist  of  a  black 
arenaceous  fertile  soil,  which  is  stated  to  produce  abun- 
dantly in  its  season  the  wild  species  of  cepa  or  leek. 
This  circumstance  has  led  the  natives  to  name  it  the 
place  of  the  wild  leek.  Such  is  the  origin  of  the  term 
Chicago,  which  is  a  derivative  by  elision  and  French 
annotation  from  the  word  chi-kaug-ong.  Kaitg  is  the 
Algonquin  name  for  the  hystrix  or  porcupine.  It  takes 
the  prefix  ^z  when  applied  to  the  miistela  putorius  (pole 
cat).  The  particle  chi  is  the  common  prefix  of  nouns  to 
denote  greatness 'in  any  natural  object,  but  it  is  employed 


as  here,  to  mean  the  increase  or  excess,  as  acridness  or 
pungency  in  quality.  The  penultimate  ong  denotes 
locality.  The  putorius  is  so  named  from  this  plant." 

Bishop  Baraga,  in  an  appendix  to  his  Ojibway  dic- 
tionary, says  the  word  Chicago  is  a  word  in  the  Cree 
dialect,  a  tribe  of  the  Algonquin  group  called  a\soKniste- 
uoSy  "from  Chicag  or  Sikag,  a  skunk,  a  kind  of  wildcat, 
which  at  the  local  term  makes  Chicagok"  In  his 
dictionary  mentioned,  he  defines  an  onion  in  the  Ojib- 
way dialect  as  '  kitchijigagmanj  (French  orthography); 
English  orthography,  kit-che-zhig^a-gam-anzh.  The 
definition  of  onion  by  Rev.  Edward  F.  Wilson,  in  his 
dictionary  of  the  Ojibway  language,  is  keche-she-gaug- 
uh-wunzh.  He  defines  skunk  as  zhe  gaug. 

John  Tanner,  for  thirty  years  a  captive  among  the 
Ojibways,  and  many  years  United  States  Indian  inter- 
preter, in  a  "catalogue  of  plants  and  animals  found  in  the 
country  of  the  Ojibways,  with  English  names,"  appended 
to  the  narrative  of  his  captivity,  defines  skunk  as  she- 
gahg.  He  defines  onion  as  she-gau-ga-winzhe  (skunk 
weed).  In  a  note  thereto,  by  Dr.  James,  editor  of  Tan- 
ner's narrative,  it  is  added  :  "  From  shih-gau-ga-winzhc, 
this  word  in  the  singular  number,  some  derive  the  name 
Chicago."  The  Indians,  it  seems,  at  least  the  Ojibways, 
called  the  onion,  garlic  and  other  weeds  of  like  odor  by 
a  name  which  signified  skunk  weed,  and  in  the  Ojib- 
way language  the  words  used  so  express  it. 

It  is  noticed  that  all  who  contend  that  the  word  Chi- 


cago,  as  applied  to  the  river  and  city  of  that  name, 
means  skunk,  onion  or  the  like,  derive  their  convictions 
on  the  subject  from  one  or  more  of  the  authorities 
which  are  before  cited,  or  from  some  one  familiar  with 
the  Ojibway  language  who  forms  his  convictions  to  the 
same  effect  from  the  mere  coincidence  of  sounds.  His- 
tory is  so  unsatisfactory  and  varied  in  regard  to  this 
word,  that  we  are  left  at  this  day  to  determine  its 
meaning  solely  upon  the  basis  of  similarity  of  sounds, 
for  there  seems  to  be  no  fact  or  incident  narrated  or 
mentioned  in  history  that  leads  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, either  to  the  original  meaning  of  this  word  as 
intended,  or  to  the  dialect  from  which  it  is  derived. 
And  it  is  to  be  confessed  that  upon  the  theory  afore- 
said, conceding  that  the  word  comes  from  the  Ojibway 
language  or  dialect,  no  one  is  prepared  to  dispute  the 
assertion  so  generally  made  that  the  word  is  derived 
from  skunk.  The  word  skunk  being  in  the  Indian 
tongue  simply  she-kaug,  in  order  to  make  Chi-ca-go,  the 
theory  adopted  is  that  ong,  an  Ojibway  local  termina- 
tion is  added,  which  makes  Chi-cag-ong,  meaning  at 
the  skunk — the  sound  of  ng  being  dropped  in  common 
speech,  leaving  the  word  in  the  form  now  used.  Whilst 
this  is  not  inconsistent  in  practice,  in  dealing  with 
Indian  names  there  is  another  theory,  it  is  suggested, 
which  maybe  adopted  in  this  connection  that  would 
seem  to  be  equally  consistent.  The  word  Chi-cag-o, 
without  adding  ng  would  be  a  fair  Ojibway  expression. 


The  sound  of  o  added  would  denote  the  genitive,  and 
might  be  rendered  thus  :  him  of  the  skunk,  in  which 
case  it  would  probably  be  the  name  of  an  individual, 
and  it  is  stated  that  this  word  is  the  name,  not  only  of 
some  one  Indian  chief,  but  the  name  also  of  a  line  of 
chiefs  during  several  generations. 

It  is  to  be  remarked,  however,  that  there  are  some 
facts  in  history  in  regard  to  this  word  not  in  harmony 
with  the  definition  generally  contended  for,  as  before 
stated.  The  word  is  first  mentioned  in  early  Western 
history  by  Hennepin  in  his  account  of  La  Salle's 
expedition  which  he  accompanied,  chapter  34,  (London 
edition,  1699),  the  heading  of  which  is  as  follows : 
"  An  account  of  the  building  of  a  new  fort  on  the  river 
of  the  Illinois  named  by  the  savages  Che-cau-gou,  and 
by  us,  Fort  Crevecceur"  This  was  in  January,  1680. 
This  fort  was  at  or  near  the  place  where  Peoria,  in 
this  State,  now  stands.  We  must  believe  that  the 
Indian  word  mentioned,  given  by  the  savages  as  their 
name  for  this  fort,  could  not  in  this  connection  mean 
skunk,  nor  skunk  weed.  The  definition  of  the  French 
word  mentioned,  would  mean  "  broken  heart."  Hen- 
nepin remarks  that  the  many  difficulties  they  labored 
under,  had  almost  broken  their  hearts.  May  we  not 
therefore  suppose  that  the  Indian  word  thus  applied 
was  intended  to  be  of  similar  import  ? 

The  name  Che-ka-gou  thereafter  appears  on  a  map 
by  Franquelin  in  1684,  applied  to  a  river  putting  into 


6 

the  Desplaines  from  the  east  at  a  point  just  above  the 
Kankakee  River,  while  at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan 
on  this  map  is  the  word  Checagoumeinan.  At  a  later 
date,  what  is  now  called  the  Desplaines  River  was 
called  by  the  early  French  explorers  the  river  Cheka- 
gou.  This  word,  as  a  local  name,  did  not,  as  would 
appear,  reach  the  river  at  present  so  named,  nor  the 
point  where  Chicago  now  is,  until  at  least  thirty  years 
after  the  time  of  Hennepin,  as  before  mentioned  ;  and 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  this  word  was  lastly 
so  applied,  from  what  dialect  it  came,  or  what  its  in- 
tended meaning  was,  if  any  in  its  changed  application, 
no  account  whatever  is  transmitted  to  us.  The  most 
that  can  be  said  of  the  word  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, is  that  it  is  of  Indian  origin,  and  comes  from 
some  dialect  of  the  Algonquin  group  so  called.  It 
must  be  noted,  however,  that  in  the  Ojibway  dialect, 
this  word,  or  that  which  is  essentially  the  same,  is  not 
confined  in  its  meaning  to.  that  contended  for  as  before 
mentioned.  The  word  may  mean  also  in  that  language 
to  forbear  or  avoid,  from  kah-go,  forbear  and  eke,  a  pre- 
fix answering  to  our  preposition  to ;  or,  it  may  mean 
something  great  from  ka-go,  something,  and  cki,  from 
git-che,  great;  besides  several  other  words  or  expres- 
sions which  may  be  found  in  this  dialect,  of  the  same 
sound  yet  of  different  meanings.  Che-ca-gua  was  the 
name  of  a  noted  Sac  chief,  and  means  in  that  dialect 
he  that  stands  by  the  tree.  In  the  Pottawatomie  dia- 


lect,    the  word    choe-ca-go,  without  addition  or  abridg- 
ment, means  destitute. 

Now,  if  this  word  was  applied  to  the  river  which  at 
present  bears  this  name  from  the  local  circumstance  as 
claimed,  that  of  the  abundance  of  skunk  weed  upon  its 
banks,  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  it  must  have  been 
so  given  by  the  tribe  who  then  inhabited  or  dwelt  in 
the  vicinity.  At  the  time  this  word  first  appeared  in 
this  locality,  the  country  about  was  inhabited,  we  are 
informed,  by  the  tribe  of  Miamis,  in  whose  dialect  the 
word  for  skunk  or  polecat  was  se-kaw-kwaw.  The 
Miamis,  it  seems,  were  succeeded  by  the  Pottawatomies. 
We  have  no  account  from  any  source  that  the  Ojib- 
way  nation,  from  whose  dialect  the  attempt  is  made  to 
define  the  meaning  of  this  word,  ever  inhabited  this 
part  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Hurlbut,  in  his  book  of  Chicago  Antiquities, 
refers  to  an  article  in  Potter's  American  Monthly, 
wherein  it  is  stated  that  in  early  days  this  place  was 
called  "  Tuck  Chicago,"  and  in  which  it  is  said  that 
"  Tuck  in  the  Indian  dialect  means  ivood  or  timber''1 
That  the  word  Chicago  means  "gone,  absent  or  with- 
out." That  the  words  Tuck  Chicago  signified  there- 
fore the  waste  prairie,  or  literally  translated,  wood  gone. 
The  Indian  dialect  referred  to,  it  is  understood,  has 
reference  to  that  of  the  Pottawatomies.  Conceding 
this  to 'be  so,  there  is  much  force  in  this  definition. 
Properly,  however,  in  that  dialect  it  would  be  Tuck 


8 

Choe-ca-go  (no  tree,  or  not  a  tree).  In  the  Ojibway 
language,  Mit-tuck  ka-ka-go.  As  a  matter  of  history 
the  locality  about  Chicago  was  the  only  place  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  where  there  was  an 
entire  absence  of  trees.  The  country  along  the  lake 
at  this  point  for  some  distance  was  clean,  naked  prairie, 
with  not  a  tree  to  obstruct  the  view  ;  and  it  is  fair  to 
suppose  that  some  name  would  be  given  the  place  by 
the  natives  suggestive  of  this  circumstance. 

So  that  the  further  the  investigation  is  pursued  on 
this  subject  the  less  satisfactory  is  the  result  produced 
as  to  what  was  originally  intended  as  the  true  meaning 
of  the  word  Chicago  in  the  various  applications  made 
of  it  from  its  first  mention  by  Hennepin  as  related. 

E.  Mi  : HASHES- 

DOUGLAS.  Named  after  Hon.  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  born  April  23,  1813,  died  June  3,  1861.  A 
few  rods  north  of  the  station,  a  handsome  monument 
has  been  erected  by  the  State  of  Illinois  over  his  re- 
mains. This  station  was  formerly  called  "  Fairview." 

t 

OAKLAND.  First  called  (in  1836)  Oakwoods, 
from  the  great  number  of  oak  trees  which  covered 
this  locality.  Section  line  here  divides  Hyde  Park 
and  Chicago,  being  the  extreme  southern  limit  of  the 
city.  It  was  at  one  time  called  Cleaverville,  by  Mr. 
Charles  Cleaver,  who  lived  here,  and  owned  a  large 
amount  of  property  in  the  vicinity. 


9 

KENWOOD.  In  the  spring  of  1856,  Dr.  John  A. 
Kennicott  built  a  small  frame  house  near  what  is  now 
called  Kenwood  Station,  and  settled  there  with  his  family. 
There  were  no  other  houses  there  at  that  time.  He 
called  his  place  Kenwood  after  the  family  homestead 
of  his  ancestors  in  the  suburb  of  Edinburgh,  where  his 
mother  was  born,  and  which  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
McMillin  family.  The  station  was  established  in  1859 
by  Gen.  Geo.  B.  McClellan,  who  was  then  the  Vice- 
President  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company, 
and  was  called  Kenwood  Station.  This  had  the  effect 
of  giving  the  name  of  Dr.  Kennicott's  private  residence 
to  the  surrounding  neighborhood,  without  definite  limits. 
It  is  exactly  one  mile  south  of  the  city  limits,  47th 
street  (formerly  called  Mason  street)  being  the  section 
line. 

HYDE  PARK.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  sub- 
urbs of  Chicago.  It  was  laid  out  in  the  year  1856  by 
Paul  Cornell,  and  named  after  a  village  on  the  Hudson 
River  near  New  York  City. 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  started  the 
Hyde  Park  train  on  the  first  day  of  June,  1856.  The 
conductor  was  Mr.  H.  L.  Robinson,  afterwards  Quarter- 
master in  the  United  States  Army,  and  a  friend  of 
President  Lincoln.  At  that  time,  only  three  trains  a 
day  ran  in  each  direction.  During  the  years  1857  and 
1858,  the  Hyde  Park  House  was  erected  by  Paul 


10 

t 

Cornell,  the  founder  vof  the  place,  and  leased  to  Tabor, 
Hawk  &  Co.,  who  kept  it  in  connection  with  the  Rich- 
mond House,  of  Chicago. 

During  the  years  1868  and  1869  the  South  Parks 
and  Boulevards  were  laid  out,  comprising  over  twelve 
hundred  acres  of  land,  making  larger  pleasure  grounds 
than  all  the  other  parks  in  the  city  of  Chicago  combined. 
These  parks  and  drive-ways  add  greatly  to  the  beauty 
of  this  very  attractive  suburb. 

SOUTH  PARK  STATION  was  named  after 
the  South  Parks  from  the  fact  that  it  is  located  at  the 
principal  entrance  of  one  of  the  parks.  As  the  traveler 
passes  this  station  on  the  cars,  some  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful views  of  these  great  pleasure  grounds  can  be 
seen  ;  extensive  lawns  and  play  grounds  stretching  out 
to  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  decorated  with  shrubs 
and  flowers,  and  with  several  artificial  lakes  that  have 
been  made  by  the  park  commissioners  for  boating  and 
skating.  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  has 
built  at  this  point  a  large  and  elegant  Depot,  at  a 
cost  of  over  $30,000,  which  will  accommodate  several 
thousand  people. 

GRAND  CROSSING  took  its  name  from  the  fact 
that  so  many  railroad  tracks  crossed  each  other  at  that 
point.  It  was  laid  out  in  the  year  1871  by  Paul 
Cornell,  who  built  a  hotel  and  the  "Cornell  Watch 


11 

Factory"  there  during  the  years  1871  and  1872.  The 
station  was  originally  named  after  him.  It  is  noted 
for  its  railroad  facilities  and  bids  fair  to  be  a  large 
manufacturing  place.  It  now  contains  ten  factories  in 
successful  operation. 

BURNSIDE.  Established  in  1862,  and  named 
after  Gen.  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  at  one  time  Cashier  of 
the  Illinois  Central  Land  Department  and  afterwards 
Treasurer  of  the  Company.  Upon  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861,  he  was  called  by 
Governor  Sprague  of  Rhode  Island  to  take  charge  of 
the  State  troops,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  major-general. 
He  died  at  Bristol,  R.  I.,  in  September,  1881. 

Owing  to  the  financial  depression  in  1861,  many  of 
the  farmers  who  had  purchased  lands  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company  were  unable  to  make  payments 
as  their  notes  became  due,  and  the  Company  agreed 
to  receive  corn  in  lieu  of  cash.  Ten  miles  of  corn 
cribs  were  built  at  this  point,  and  the  corn  received  by 
the  Land  Department  was  shipped  here  for  storage. 

The  Company  owns  150  acres  of  land  at  Burnside, 
upon  which  it  is  proposed  to  erect  at  some  future  time 
machine  shops  and  car  works. 

PULLMAN.  Five  or  six  years  ago,  Mr.  George 
M.  Pullman,  President  of  Pullman's  Palace  Car  Com- 
pany, conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  a  model  manu- 


IS 

facturing  town,  in  which  might  be  centralized  the  inter- 
ests of  his  palace  car  company  and  such  other  works  as 
could  be  conveniently  and  profitably  harmonized  there- 
with. Two  or  three  years  later  he  selected  a  site  on 
the  west  bank  of  Lake  Calumet,  about  nine  miles  south 
of  Chicago  and  one  mile  east  of  the  western  bound- 
ary line  of  Hyde  Park  township.  Here  he  quietly  com- 
menced to  purchase  land,  so  as  not  to  excite  specula- 
tion, and  in  a  short  time  had  secured  3,500  acres;  500 
acres  were  then  deeded  to  the  Pullman  Palace  Car 
Company  and  the  remainder  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  trustee  to  be  held  for  purposes  duly  specified  in  the 
trust  deed,  all  of  which  looked  to  the  establishment 
and  completion  of  the  town  of  Pullman. 

Until  Mr.  Pullman  had  matured  his  plans,  he  took 
counsel  of  no  one,  and  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  this 
is  the  first  instance  where  a  manufacturing  town  has 
been  projected  upon  paper,  detail  after  detail,  and  then 
constructed  step  by  step  with  exact  attention  to  the 
specifications  and  the  purposes  of  its  founder. 

On  the  26th  day  of  May,  1880,  ground  was  broken. 
At  the  date  of  this  writing,  (March,  1883),  several 
hundred  buildings  have  been  erected,  including  facto- 
ries, foundries,  stores,  public  halls,  dwelling  houses, 
waterworks,  gas  works,  hotel,  marketplace  and  church  ; 
in  short,  every  kind  of  building  calculated  to  give  life 
and  prosperity  to  a  community.  From  three  to  four 
hundred  acres  of  land  have  so  far  been  utilized  for 


13 

buildings  and  pleasure  grounds,  and  the  work  of  beau- 
tifying and  extending  the  settlement  is  prosecuted  with 
vigor  and  a  generous  expenditure  of  capital. 

It  is  proper  to  state  here,  that  Mr.  Pullman  had  no 
speculation  in  mind  when  he  entered  upon  this  admira- 
ble enterprise.  The  character  of  the  work  precludes 
such  an  idea.  In  every  structure  he  has  striven  to 
combine  usefulness  and  beauty,  to  render  the  project 
commercially  safe  and  to  elevate  or  educate  the  tastes 
of  his  employes  up  to  the  standard  of  their  surround- 
ings. 

The  main  industries  already  in  operation  employ 
upwards  of  2,50x3  men.  Most  prominent  among  them 
are  the  immense  car  shops,  foundry,  blacksmith  shop 
and  accessory  buildings  of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Co., 
employing  some  1,500  mechanics  and  laborers,  and 
operated  by  the  famous  "  Corliss  "  engine,  built  by 
Mr.  Corliss  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  for  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  in  1876.  This  huge  machine  made  its  first 
revolution  at  Pullman  on  March  18,  1881,  and  is  capa- 
ble of  2,400  horse  power.  In  the  boiler  room,  con- 
nected with  it,  is  a  nest  of  twelve  boilers,  each  with  an 
additional  capacity  of  400  horse  power,  (now  used  for 
heating  buildings,  etc.,)  which  when  needed  can  also  be 
applied  to  auxiliary  engines.  The  "Corliss"  engine  dis- 
tributes motive  power  to  the  works  of  the  Allen  Paper 
Car  Wheel  Company,  a  concern  which  supplies  the  Pull- 
man and  other  companies  with  a  patent  car  wheel,  the 


14 

core  of  which  is  composed  of  156  sheets  of  paper  board 
compressed  into  a  solid  mass,  increasing,  it  is  claimed, 
the  durability  of  the  wheel  and  rendering  it  less  liable 
to  fracture.  The  Pullman  Company  use  these  wheels 
exclusively  in  constructing  their  palace  cars.  The 
Union  Foundry  and  Pullman  Car  Wheel  Works  is 
another  concern  recently  organized,  which  promises 
extensive  results.  These  works  now  employ  from  six 
to  seven  hundred  men  without  reaching  their  capacity. 

The  Chicago  Drop  Forging  Company,  another  man- 
ufactory, employ  forty  or  more  men. 

Not  one  of  these  several  enterprises  has  yet  utilized 
its  capacity  in  full.  Not  less  than  5,000  families  may 
derive  their  living  from  the  aggregation  of  capital 
which  Mr.  Pullman  has  so  boldly  planted  on  this  Illinois 
prairie.  The  rents  from  private  dwellings  and  stores 
already  amount  to  $io§,ooo  per  annum,  and  in  a  few 
months  this  sum  will  probably  increase  to  about 
$200,000. 

Extensive  brick  works  have  been  recently  put  in 
operation  which  employ  250  men  and  turn  out  200,000 
bricks  a  day.  The  product  is  used  for  local  structures 
and  is  also  sold  in  and  about  Chicago.  The  clay  is 
taken  from  the  bed  of  Lake  Calumet. 

Precautions  to  assure  the  health  of  the  residents 
have  been  adopted  in  a  system  which  commends  itself. 
The  sewage  is  carried  by  drains  into  a  large  pool  forty 
feet  deep  and  of  about  the  same  diameter;  thence  it  is 


15 

pumped  up  and  forced  to  a  farm  some  three  miles  dis- 
tant, where  it  is  distributed  as  a  fertilizer  over  the  land 
which  has  been  underdrained  so  as  to  carry  off  the 
water  rapidly. 

Upon  the  massive  masonry  which  incloses  the  pool 
referred  to,  have  been  built  seven  stories,  circular  in 
form,  which  can  be  availed  of  for  warehouses  or  shops; 
on  top  of  these,  again,  is  a  tank,  inclosed  by  solid 
masonry,  with  a  capacity  of  500,000  gallons.  This  tank 
will  be  kept  full  of  water  by  the  Hyde  Park  Water 
Works  for  the  supply  of  the  town. 

Much  taste  and  care  have  been  expended  in  every 
detail  of  architecture  and  landscape.  All  the  dwelling 
houses  are  built  of  brick,  and  in  such  variety  of  design 
as  to  avoid  monotony.  Rents  of  workmen's  houses 
range  from  $6  to  $17  per  month,  the  average  being 
about  $12  ;  houses  for  merchants  and  professional 
men  are  rented  at  from  $25  to  $65  per  month. 

The  Hotel  Florence  is  a  building,  which,  in  beauty 
of  external  architecture  and  internal  arrangement,  will 
vie  with  anything  of  the  kind  in  the  country. 

The  church,  cruciform  in  shape,  and  built  of  Ohio 
serpentine  stone  (or  a  stone  closely  resembling  it),  is 
the  chef  cFceuvre  of  Mr.  S.  S.  Beman,  the  architect,  and 
should  insure  his  professional  success.  He  has  dove- 
tailed the  church  and  rectory  together  in  such  an 
ingenious  manner  as  to  lend  size  to  the  main  building* 
and  beautify  both. 


16 

The  depot  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  also  de- 
signed by  Mr.  Beman  (whose  genius  pervades  the  place), 
is  a  unique  and  tasteful  structure  in  brick,  with  stained 
glass  windows  of  medieval  pattern. 

The  total  expenditures  up  to  date  (say  June,  1882), 
for  all  the  improvements  made  by  Mr.  Pullman's  com- 
panies, aggregate  in  round  numbers  $5,0x30,000,  and 
the  outlay  has  secured  remarkable  results.  It  is  proba- 
able  that  further  improvements  will  be  made  by  the 
Pullman  Land  Association.  The  Pullman  Palace  Car 
Co.  having  about  completed  their  plant,  are  already 
engaged  in  manufacturing  to  order  and  for  stock. 

Thus,  the  town  of  Pullman,  two  years  ago  an  un- 
broken prairie,  is  a  perennial  monument  to  the  thought- 
ful and  bold  enterprise  of  one  man,  and  will  perpetuate 
his  name  from  generation  to  generation. 

KENSINGTON,  so  called  at  the  request  of  the 
late  Col.  James  H.  Bowen,  a  large  owner  of  neighbor- 
ing lands,  who  also  represented  the  "Calumet  and 
Chicago  Canal  and  Dock  Company." 

Original  name  was  Calumet  (Indian  for  "pipe  of 
peace,"  a  French  Canadian  corruption  of  Chalumeau> 
meaning  a  pipe) ;  there  being  a  station  called  Calumet 
on  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Road,  a 
change  of  name  was  thought  desirable.  Junction  with 
Michigan  Central  Road  (1852)  and  crossing  of  Chicago 
&  Western  Indiana  Road  (1879). 


17 

RIVERDALE  (near  the  Calumet  River),  estab- 
lished after  the  construction  of  the  Pittsburg,  Cincin- 
nati &  St.  Louis  Railroad  (originally  the  Great  East- 
ern Railroad),  which  crosses  at  this  point.  The  town 
is  a  short  distance  east  of  station. 

SOUTH  LAWN.  Crossing  of  Chicago  & 
Southern  Railroad,  built  originally  for  the  Chicago, 
Danville  &  Vincennes  Railroad,  afterwards  known  as 
the  Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois,  now  owned  by  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway.  A  town  was  laid  out  here  and 
named  South  Lawn  by  its  proprietors.  But  few  houses 
have  been  constructed. 

HOME  WOOD.  Before  the  location  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Road,  there  was  already  a  town,  Thornton,  two 
and  a  half  miles  eastward.  After  the  road  was  built, 
a  town  was  platted  and  surveyed  here  by  James  Hart, 
who  named  it  Hartford,  but  the  railroad  and  post-office 
name  was  Thornton.  Later  on,  when  the  Chicago, 
Danville  &  Vincennes  (now  the  Chicago  &  Eastern 
Illinois)  Railroad  was  built  through  the  old  town  of 
Thornton,  a  change  of  name  became  necessary;  Mrs. 
J.  C.  Howe  suggested  Homewood,  after  a  village  near 
Pittsburg,  which  was  adopted. 

MATTESON.  Settled  in  1855;  named  after 
Hon.  Joel  A.  Matteson,  Governor  of  Illinois  from  1853 


18 

to  1857  ;  crossing  of  the  Joliet  Branch  of  the  Michigan 
Central  Road,  known  as  the  Joliet  Cut-off. 

RICHTON.  Named  by  Joseph  Batchelder,  who 
settled  here  in  1836  or  1837,  after  Richton,  Vermont,  his 
former  place  of  residence.  Mr.  Batchelder,  H.  Meeker 
and  a  man  named  McCoy  were  the  first  settlers  in  this 
vicinity. 

MONEE,  of  the  Pottawatomie  tribe,  was  the  wife 
of  the  Indian  trader,  Joseph  Bailes,  a  French-Canadian 
and  a  person  of  much  influence  and  note  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Northwest.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  career 
as  a  trader  he  was  living  in  the  Calumet  country  near 
the  Indiana  State  line,  at  a  place  known  as  Baileytown. 
The  baptismal  name  of  his  wife  was  Mary,  pronounced 
by  the  French  Mah-ree;  she  was  so  called  by  her 
husband.  In  the  dialect  of  the  Pottawatomies,  like 
that  of  nearly  all  of  the  tribes  of  the  Algonquin  group, 
there  is  no  sound  of  r;  it  is  supplied  by  the  sound  of  n. 
The  Indians  could  not  therefore  pronounce  the  name 
Mah-ree,  but  pronounced  it  Mau-nee  or  Mo-nee.  It  is 
said  that  the  Indians  derived  many  favors  at  the 
hands  of  Bailes  through  the  influence  of  his  wife, 
which  as  a  natural  consequence  made  her  a  great 
favorite  with  them,  by  whom  she  was  known  as  "Mo- 
nee"  In  one  of  the  treaties  between  the  government  and 
her  tribe,  she  was  allowed  a  reservation  of  land  in  the 


19 

vicinity  of  her  husband's  trading  post  in  the  Calumet 
country,  in  which  she  is  mentioned  as  "Mo-nee"  the 
wife  of  Joseph  Bailes. 

The  meaning  of  Monee  in  the  old  Shawanese  is 
money,  and  the  same  in  the  Delaware  tongue.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  two  tribes  above  mentioned 
took  the  word  from  the  English  colonists ;  they  ac- 
cented the  last  syllable  in  pronouncing  it,  hence  the 
French  spelled  it  Monee  instead  of  money. — Blanchard. 

PEOTONE.  "An  Indian  (Pottawatomie)  word, 
meaning  bring  (or  come)  here? — Blanchard. 

MONTE  NO.  Probably  a  corruption  of  Manitou 
or  Manito — Algonquin  for  Spirit.  Another  authority 
states  that  Manteno  is  the  Pottawatomiev  for  Soldier  s 
Village.  — Blanchard. 

TUCKER.  Called  La  Prairie  up  to  1873,  tnen 
Martin  until  1876,  when  the  name  was  changed  to 
Tucker  after  Mr.  J.  F.  Tucker,  General  Superintendent 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  at  that  time,  and  now 
Traffic  Manager. 

KANKAKEE.  In  1680,  when  La  Salle  was  ex- 
ploring in  the  vicinity  of  the  source  of  the  Kankakee 
River,  it  was  called  the  Theakiki  or  Haukiki  (Marest), 
a  name  which,  as  Charlevoix  says,  was  afterwards  cor- 
rupted by  the  French  to  Kiakiki  (Raveri),  whence  prob- 


20 

ably  its  present  form.  In  La  Salle's  time,  the  name 
Theakiki  was  given  to  the  river  Illinois  through  all  its 
course.  An  interesting  and  somewhat  graphic  account 
of  the  portage  and  the  sources  of  the  Kankakee  is 
given  in  his  letter  dated  "  De  la  Source  du  Theakiki  ce 
dixsept  Septembre,  1721." — Parkman. 

Speaking  of  the  sources  of  the  river  in  his  letter  to 
the  Duchesse  de  Lesdiguieres,  September  17,  1763, 
Charlevoix  writes:  "Theak  signifies  'a  wolf,'  and  this 
is  so  called  because  the  Mohingons,  which  are  also 
called  '  the  wolves,'  formerly  took  refuge  here." 

It  is  the  county  seat  of  Kankakee  county,  junction 
with  Cincinnati,  Lafayette  &  Chicago  Railroad,  now 
known  as  Cincinnati,  Indianapolis,  St.  Louis  &  Chicago 
Railroad;  also  the  crossing  of  Indiana,  Illinois  &  Iowa 
Railroad. 

Camp  of  the  Kickapoos.  (French — Le  Camp  Kiki- 
pous;  French  short — Camp  Ki-ki ;  English — Kong-ke- 
ke.)  A  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  central  portion  of  what 
is  now  Illinois.  They  are  supposed  to  have  had  a 
village  on  what  is  now  called  the  Kankakee  River. 
This  river  took  its  present  name  within  a  period  of 
twenty  years  following  1680. — E.  M.  Haines. 


SACRAMENTO.  Named  after  Sacramento,  the 
capital  of  California,  whence  a  few  of  the  settlers  in 
this  vicinity  came. 


21 

OTTO.      From  the  name  of   Otto  township.     The 
station  was  established  in   1878,    upon    completion  of 
the  Kankakee  &  Southwestern  Railroad,  which  at  this 
point    makes  junction  with   the  Illinois  Central.     No 
town  here. 

CHEBANSE.  An  Indian  chief  (Little  Duck),  of 
the  tribe  of  the  Pottawatomie  nation,  who  joined  in 
articles  of  treaty  made  at  Chicago  between  Lewis  Cass 
and  Solomon  Sibley,  commissioners  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Ottawa,  Chippewa  and  Pottawatomie 
nations,  2Qth  August,  1821,  by  which  certain  lands  were 
ceded  to  the  United  States. 

CLIFTON.  William  A.  Veech,  who  was  in  1857 
the  sole  owner  of  this  town,  boarded  at  the  Clifton 
House,  Chicago,  and  he  conceived  the  brilliant  idea  of 
naming  the  town  after  the  hotel. 

ASHKUM.  Named  after  an  Iroquois  Indian 
chief,  meaning  "  more  and  more." 

DANFORTH.  Named  after  George  W.  Dan- 
forth,  a  large  purchaser  of  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
lands  at  this  point,  who  laid  out  the  town. 

OILMAN.  Named  after  Samuel  Oilman  of  New 
York  who,  with  W.  H.  Cruger  and  Charles  Secor,  built 
that  portion  of  the  Peoria  &  Oquawka  Railroad  (now 


22 

part  of  the  Wabash  system)  running  from  Oilman  to 
El  Paso  on  the  Illinois  Central's  main  line,  about 
fifty-three  miles. 

ONARGA.  Iroquois,  probably;  if  so,  it  would 
mean  "a  place  of  rocky  hills." 

SPRING  CREEK.  On  north  bank  of  Spring 
Creek,  whence  the  station  takes  its  name. 

BULKLEY.  Named  by  Ira  A.  Manley,  the  first 
station  agent,  who  called  it  after  one  of  his  relatives 
by  the  name  of  Bulkley. 

LODA.  Taken  from  one  of  Ossian's  epic  poems 
called  "  Cath-Loda."  Loda  is  the  name  of  one  of  the 
Gallic  gods,  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Odin  of  the 
Scandinavian  mythology.  The  god  has  his  dwelling 
place,  where  he  is  worshipped,  on  a  mountain  near  the 
scene  of  the  poem. 

PAXTON.  Called  Prospect  City  prior  to  1858. 
Named  by  Mr.  James  Mix  of  Kankakee  in  honor  of  Sir 
Joseph  Paxton,  about  the  time  the  latter  was  largely  in 
terested  in  immigration.  The  Lafayette,  Bloomington 
&  Mississippi  Railway,  now  part  of  the  Lake  Erie 
&  Western,  was  extended  across  the  Illinois  Central 
at  this  point  in  December,  1871. 


23 

LUDLOW.  Named  after  Thomas  W.  Ludlow  of 
New  York,  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  as  appears  by  the  charter.  It  was 
called  Tera  prior  to  1868  by  J.  B.  Calhoun. 

RANTOUL.  Named  at  the  request  of  W.  P.  Bur- 
rail,  at  one  time  President  of  the  Illinois  Central  Co., 
after  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  one  of  the  incorporators  of 
the  Illinois  Central ;  his  name  will  be  found  in  the  orig- 
inal act.  He  was  in  Congress  as  a  representative  from 
Massachusetts  at  the  time  the  Land  Grant  Act  was 
passed.  He  was  an  American  statesman,  born  in 
Beverly,  Mass.,  on  the  5th  August,  1805;  died  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  7th  August,  1852.  He  exerted  himself 
for  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment,  and  his  report 
on  that  subject  is  still  one  of  the  standard  authorities 
of  its  opponents.  He  was  at  one  time  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  Massachusetts. 

THOMASBORO.  After  John  Thomas,  an  En- 
glish  gentleman,  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  and  an  owner 
of  adjoining  lands. 

CHAMPAIGN.  Urbana,  the  county  seat  adjoin- 
ing on  the  east,  was  settled  by  emigrants  from  Urbana, 
Champaign  county,  Ohio,  who  named  the  new  settle- 
ment after  their  old  home.  What  is  now  Champaign 
was  called  West  Urbana  until  the  county  was  divided, 
when  it  took  the  name  of  the  county,  Champaign. 


24 

The  Illinois  Industrial  University,  located  near  the 
station,  was  established  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature, 
approved  28th  February,  1867,  and  endowed  by  the 
Congressional  grant  of  480,000  acres  of  land  scrip  under 
the  law  providing  for  agricultural  colleges.  Cham- 
paign county  donated  lands,  bonds,  etc.,  to  the  amount 
of  $400,000  more.  The  recitation  rooms  in  the  Uni- 
versity will  accommodate  400  pupils. 

SAVOY,  (French,  La  So/vote).  Named  in  compli- 
ment to  the  Princess  Clothilde,  of  the  House  of  Savoy, 
who  with  her  husband,  Prince  Napoleon,  and  the  French 
Minister,  Baron  Mercier  and  his  wife,  the  Countess 
of  Lostant,  visited  Illinois  in  1861. 

A  territory  of  France  formerly  an  independent  duchy 
and  afterwards  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia.  Ex- 
cept during  the  French  domination  under  the  republic 
and  Napoleon  I.,  Savoy  remained  a  part  of  the  Sar- 
dinian States  until  1860,  when  by  the  treaty  of  Turin 
(March  24th)  it  was  ceded  to  France,  together  with 
most  of  the  country  of  Nice,  on  condition  that  the  in- 
habitants should  approve  the  transfer,  which  they  did 
by  a  special  vote,  and  the  country  was  formally  annexed 
to  France,  i2th  June,  1860. — Appletoris  Encyclopedia. 

TOLONO.  Named  by  placing  the  vowel  "o" 
three  times  thus,  o-o-o,  and  filling  in  with  the  conso- 
nants t-l-n,  forming  T-o-l-o-n-o,  by  J.  B.  Calhoun,  who, 


25 

in  company  with  J.  Condit  Smith,  purchased  the  land 
and  laid  out  the  town. 

A  resident  of  Tolono  was  questioned  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  name  and  gave  the  following  explanation,  which 
seems  to  be  devoutly  believed  by  the  oldest  inhabitant. 
The  legend  runs,  that  many  years  ago,  before  the  ad- 
vent of  the  white  man,  a  wandering  tribe  of  Indians 
were  roaming  over  these  plains  on  a  periodical  hunting 
excursion.  At  this  point  game  and  wild  fowls  were 
found  in  great  abundance.  Some  of  the  braves,  in 
view  of  this,  proposed  that  they  should  pitch  their  tents 
and  remain  at  least  for  a  time.  The  matter  being  re- 
ferred to  the  old  chief  in  command,  he  looked  about 
him  and,  with  characteristic  gravity  and  terseness  re- 
plied, "Too  low;  no!"  And  they  passed  on.- 

The  prairie  here  was  formerly  flat  and  marshy,  but  is 
now  well  drained. 

PESOTUM.  Pee-so-tum  was  the  Indian  who,  at 
the  Chicago  massacre,  August  i5th,  1812,  killed  Capt. 
William  Wells  of  Fort  Wayne.  His  remains  were 
terribly  mutilated,  his  heart  being  cut  in  pieces  and 
distributed  among  the  tribes,  as  was  their  wont,  as  a 
token  of  bravery.  Billy  Caldwell,  a  half-breed  Wyandot 
chief,  (afterwards  long  and  well  known  in  Chicago), 
arriving  next  day,  gathered  up  the  several  portions  of 
the  body  and  buried  them  in  the  sand.  Wells  street, 
Chicago,  perpetuates  the  name  of  Capt.  Wells.  His 


26 

title  of  captain  was  acquired  from  his  having  had  com- 
mand of  a  company  of  mounted  scouts  in  Gen.  Wayne's 
army,  during  the  campaign  of  1793-4,  against  the 
Northwest  Indian  tribes. 

HAYES.  Named  in  1877  after  Samuel  Jarvis 
Hayes,  appointed  Superintendent  of  Machinery  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Co.,  2Oth  August,  1856. 
Died,  2 ist  Sept.,  1882,  after  rendering  26  years  of  con- 
tinuous service. 

TUSCOLA.  An  Apalachian  word  for  flat  plain. 
In  the  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan  there  is  a 
county  of  that  name. 

GALTON.     Capt.  Douglas  Galton,  C.  B.,  D.  C.  L., 

F.  R.  S.,  visited  Illinois  in  1856  and  again  in  1877  in 
company  with  H.  I.  de  Marez  Oyens,  of  Amsterdam,  to 
examine  the  affairs  of  the  Illinois  Central,  the  former 
on  behalf  of  the  English  and  the  latter  on  behalf  of 
the  Dutch  shareholders.  The  station  formerly  called 
"-  Bourbon  Switch  "was  named  Galton  in  compliment 
to  him. 

ARCOLA.  Arcole,  a  village  of  Venetia  on  the 
Alphone,  a  small  confluent  of  the  Adige,  15  miles  E. 
S.  E.  of  Verona.  It  is  famous  for  the  victory  gained 
there  by  Napoleon,  in  the  first  Italian  campaign,  over 
the  Austrians,  November  15-1 7th,  1796.  The  name 


27 

was  suggested  by  Mr.  Kearney,  Postmaster  in  the  town 
in  1871.  Known  as  "Okaw"  prior  to  1871,  from  the 
Okaw  River  (called  Kaskaskia  River  further  south). 

HUMBOLT.  "Milton,"  prior  to  1875;  changed 
to  Humbolt,  at  the  request  of  residents,  in  honor  of  the 
eminent  German  naturalist,  writer  and  traveler,  Fried- 
rich  Heinrich  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  Baron,  born 
in  Berlin  i4th  Sept.,  1769,  and  died  there  6th  May,  1859. 

DORAN'S  CROSSING.  Established  in  1877; 
named  after  S.  A.  Doran,  a  neighboring  land  owner. 

MATTOON.  Received  its  name  from  a  person 
bearing  the  name  of  J.  Mattoon,  a  contractor  on  the 
St.  Louis,  Vandalia  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad.  He  had 
the  contract  for  grading  through  this  section,  and  was 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  the  town. 

./ETNA.  Mount  yEtna,  a  volcano  of  Sicily,  called 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Sicily  "  Mongibello." 

The  word  "y£tna"  is  from  the  Greek  aithein,  "to 
burn." 

NEOGA.  Neo  (Deity),  Oga  (Place).  Literally, 
the  place  of  the  Deity,  (Iroquois).  The  town  of  Neoga 
was  laid  off  in  April,  1856,  by  Bacon  and  Jennings. 
The  station  was  named  "  Neoga"  by  the  Illinois  Cen- 


28 

tral  Railroad  Company  before  the  town  was  laid  off  or 
thought  of.  The  first  train  of  cars  ran  through  the 
town  August  ist,  1854,  and  killed  a  bull.  It  appears 
that  the  bull  was  of  a  belligerent  disposition,  and  had 
been  taught  to  lock  horns  with  everything  that  crossed 
his  pathway.  But  when  he  pitched  into  the  train,  he 
got  the  worst  of  the  fight,  and  was  sent  to  the  pastures 
of  his  fathers  to  graze  in  peace. 

The  village  of  Neoga  was  incorporated  by  an  act  of 
the  Legislature  on  the  i;th  day  of  April,  1869. 

SIGKL.  After  Franz  Sigel,  who  was  born  at  Sinz- 
heim,  Baden,  in  1824,  and  educated  at  the  Military 
School  of  Carlsruhe.  In  1847  ne  resigned  his  command 
in  the  army  of  the  Grand  Duke,  and  in  1848  became 
Minister  of  War  under  the  revolutionary  government. 
After  its  overthrow,  he  fled  to  Switzerland,  thence  in 
1850  to  the  United  States,  where  he  taught  school  in 
New  York,  and,  in  1858,  in  St.  Louis.  In  1861  he 
entered  the  Federal  army  as  Colonel  of  the  3d  Missouri 
Volunteers  under  General  Nathaniel  Lyon,  distin- 
guished himself,  and  was  promoted.  In  1862,  be- 
coming dissatisfied  with  the  General-in-Chief — Halleck 
—he  resigned.  The  Government  so  valued  his  services 
that  his  resignation  was  not  accepted,  and  he  was  made 
a  Major-General  of  Volunteers,  and  appointed  to  a  com- 
mand in  Virginia,  where  he  participated  in  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run. 


29 

EFFINGHAM.  This  city  and  the  county  in 
which  it  is  located  were  named  after  General  Effing- 
ham,  a^n  Englishman  by  birth,  who  was  the  United 
States  Surveyor,  and  laid  out  the  county. 

* 

WATSON.  Geo.  Watson,  Division  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  in  1856. 

MASON.  Col.  Roswell  B.  Mason,  appointed  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  by  the  Board 
of  Directors  in  New  York  on  the  22d  March,  1851. 
On  the  i4th  May  following,  he  left  New  York  with  a 
corps  of  engineers  to  lay  out  the  line ;  on  the  2Qth  of 
January,  1852,  he  had  completed  all  the  surveys  and 
finished  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  whole  road.  On 
the  1 6th  March,  1853,  a  portion  of  the  line  having  been 
completed,  he  was  charged,  in  addition  to  his  other 
duties,  with  the  running  arrangements  of  the  line  and 
received  the  appointment  of  General  Superintendent. 
He  continued  in  the  service  of  the  company,  filling 
various  positions  of  trust  until  the  latter  part  of  1856, 
when,  the  road  being  completed,  he  temporarily  retired 
from  the  company's  service.  On  5th  November,  1862, 
he  assumed  charge  of  the  Land  Department  of  the 
company,  with  the  title  of  Comptroller.  In  September, 
1865,  he  prepared  plans  for  a  bridge  across  the  Missis- 
sippi River  to  Dubuque,  which  was  constructed  a  few 
years  later  under,  his  supervision. 


30 

EDGEWOOD.  So  called  from  its  location  on  the 
edge  of  the  woods. 

LACLEDE.  In  1762,  M.  d'Abadie,  Director- 
General  of  Louisiana,  granted  to  a  company  of  mer- 
chants, of  whom  Pierre  Ligueste  LaClede  was  the 
leader,  the  exclusive  right  of  trade  with  the  Indians  on 
the  Missouri.  This  company,  after  careful  examina- 
tion, established  themselves  on  the  present  site  of  St. 
Louis,  1 5th  February,  1764,  and  erected  a  large  house 
and  four  stores.  On  nth  August,  1768,  a  company  of 
Spanish  troops,  under  Capt.  Rios,  took  possession  of  it 
in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  under  whose  sway 
it  remained  until  the  cession  of  Louisiana  in  1800  to 
France,  which  in  1803  sold  the  territory  to  the  United 
States.  It  was  incorporated  as  a  town  in  1809,  and  in 
1822  was  chartered  as  a  city. — Shea. 

Our  station  derives  its  name  from  Pierre  Ligueste 
LaClede.  Called  "  Dismal"  prior  to  1863, from  Dismal 
Creek. 

FARINA  (Latin  for  Flour).  Station  probably  so 
named  from  the  fact  that  its  location  is  in  the  winter 
wheat  section.  Organized  as  a  town  in  1867;  reorgan- 
ized as  a  village  in  1875.  About  one-third  of  the  popu- 
lation are  German.  A  school  was  started  here  in  1860, 
of  which  Mr.  Thomas  Edwin  Greenfield  Ransom  was 
one  of  the  Directors.  Mr.  Ransom  was  the  Station 


31 

Agent  here  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861. 
He  entered  the  army  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 
General,  and  died  in  his  country's  service  from  the 
effect  of  wounds  received  in  Georgia,  2Qth  October, 
1864. 

KINMUNDY.  The  town  was  named  after  the 
birth-place  of  Wm.  Ferguson,  a  native  of  Scotland,  who 
visited  Illinois  in  1856.  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Robert  Benson  &  Co.,  at  that  time  the  Illinois  Central 
Company's  Agents  in  London.  Laid  out  by  W.  T. 
Sprouse,  loth  April,  1857,  on  Sec.  22.  Isaac  Egan 
laid  out  an  addition  in  1858. 

The  first  settler  was  John  W.  Nichols,  who  came  from 
Wilson  county,  Tennessee,  and  located  on  the  east 
prong  of  the  Howell's  Branch  in  1823,  where  he 
lived  until  1827. 

Henry  Howell,  also  a  Tennessean,  came  here  in 
1826  and  settled  on  the  west  bank  of  Howell's  Branch, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death.  He  raised  a  large 
family  of  children,  some  of  whom  are  now  living  in 
Texas,  some  in  Missouri  and  three  live  in  this  county. 
— History  of  Marion  County. 

ALMA.  Named  by  J.  B.  Calhoun.  The  Alma 
River  is  a  small  stream  in  the  Crimea,  running  from  the 
high  ground,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bakhtchisarai,  in  a 
westerly  direction  to  Kalamita  Bay,  between  Eupatoria 


32 

(or  Kozlov)  and  Sebastopol.  The  southern  bank  of 
this  river  was  selected  during  the  Crimean  war  by  Prince 
Montchikoff,  the  Russian  Commander,  as  a  defensive 
position  in  which  to  receive  the  onset  of  the  allied 
armies  first  landed  in  the  Peninsula.  The  battle  was 
fought  2Oth  September,  1854,  and  resulted  in  a  victory 
for  the  allies  and  the  opening  of  the  road  to  Sebasto- 
pol.— Appletoris  Encyclopedia.  Alma  Station  was  es- 
tablished about  the  time  of  this  battle  and  derived 
its  name  from  this  circumstance. 

TONTI.  Chevalier  Henri  de  Tonti,  an  Italian 
officer,  a  protege  of  the  Prince  de  Conti,  who  sent  him 
to  LaSalle  as  a  person  suitable  to  his  purposes.  Tonti 
had  but  one  hand,  the  other  having  been  blown  off  by 
a  grenade  in  the  Sicilian  wars.  His  father,  who  had 
been  Governor  of  Gaeta,  but  who  had  come  to  France  in 
consequence  of  political  disturbances  in  Naples,  had 
earned  no  small  reputation  as  a  financier,  and  had  in- 
vented the  form  of  Life  Insurance  still  called  the 
"Tontine." 

ODIN.  The  country  about  here  was  settled  by 
Scandinavians.  Odin  was  the  principal  god  of  Scandi- 
navian mythology.  The  Odin  of  mythology  is  thought 
to  be  connected  with  Odin  the  Conqueror,  who  ruled, 
according  to  tradition,  in  the  time  of  Pompey,  over  a 
portion  of  Scythia  near  the  Black  Sea.  Driven  out  of 


33 

his  territory,  he  is  said  to  have  advanced  to  the  northern- 
most countries  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and  to  have  con- 
quered Denmark  and  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula. 

CENTRAL  CITY.  So  called  from  its  proximity 
to  Centralia. 

CENTRALIA.  Laid  out  by  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company,  who  built  their  machine  shop  here 
in  1856,  or  thereabouts,  to  accommodate  the  southern 
end  of  the  Chicago  Division  and  the  main  line,  being 
selected  as  a  central  location. 

IRVINGTON.  After  Washington  Irving.  The 
first  settler  here  was  a  Mr.  Scott,  who,  with  his  family, 
located  on  Section  16  in  the  year  1827. 

The  town  was  laid  out  by  S.  Y.  Henry,  and  the  first 
building  constructed  was  the  depot  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Road. 

The  Illinois  Agricultural  College,  incorporated 
in  1 86 1,  located  here,  has  been  in  operation  since 
1869.  In  1875,  suit  was  brought  by  the  Attorney 
General  to  get  possession  of  the  lands  for  the  State, 
to  secure  the  fund  originally  appropriated  by  the  State. 
The  matter  is  still  in  litigation. — History  of  Washing- 
ton County. 

RICHVIEW.  James  Severs  was  regarded  as 
the  first  settler;  he  located  at  Green  Point  in  1828. 


34 

"Old  Richview"  was  laid  out  in  1839  by  Wm.  B.  Lin- 
say,  on  Section  10.  It  was  called  Richmond  up  to  1845, 
when  a  post-office  was  established  here,  and,  there  being 
another  town  and  post-office  in  the  State  named  "  Rich- 
mond," it  was  thought  necessary  to  change  the  name. 
In  1852  the  name  was  made  Richview,  on  account  of 
the  elevated  site  of  what  is  now  called  "  Old  Town,"  or 
"  Old  Richview,"  about  half  a  mile  from  the  station, 
and  the  very  beautiful  view  of  the  surrounding  country 
in  all  directions.  When  the  Illinois  Central  was 
built,  the  track  was  laid  about  half  a  mile  east  of  the 
"  Old  Town."  In  1854  the  railroad  company  built  a 
depot  and  switch  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  north- 
east of  the  village,  on  a  4oacre  tract  of  land  owned  by 
the  company,  and,  in  1855,  ^id  out  an  addition  to  the 
town.  The  company  named  the  station.  In  1857  the 
railroad  company  gave  75  lots  at  this  place  to  the 
"  Washington  Seminary,"  (incorporated  i6th  February, 
1865),  situated  about  a  mile  from  the  station. 

ASHLEY.  After  Col.  L.  W.  Ashley,  Division 
Engineer.  James  Woodrome  and  his  family  were  the 
first  settlers  of  this  precinct.  They  came  in  1825  ; 
within  three  years  thereafter  five  of  his  sons  settled  in 
this  neighborhood,  and  it  became  known  as  "  Wood- 
rome Settlement."  This  precinct  was  formerly  called 
"  Beaucoup."  In  the  autumn  following  James  Wood- 
rome's  advent,  William  and  Burton  Nicholls  came  from 


35 

the  State  of  Georgia,  and  settled  on  Section  23.  In 
1840  the  settlers  clubbed  together  and  built  a  small  log 
school-house  on  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Ashley. 
The  plat  of  the  town  was  recorded  2;th  May,  1854. 
The  Central  Road  was  built  through  here  during  that 
year. 

RADOM.  A  government  of  Russian  Poland.  It 
was  named  by  General  J.  B.  Turchin,  in  1873,  about 
which  time  he  induced  a  number  of  Russian  Polanders 
to  settle  in  the  locality. 

DUBOIS.  Called  "  Coloma,"  prior  to  1868,  after 
which  date  its  name  was  changed  to  DuBois,  in 
honor  of  Jesse  K.  DuBois,  Auditor  of  Public  Ac- 
counts from  1 2th  January,  1857,  until  i2th  December, 
1864.  The  early  settlers  were  principally  from  the 
States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  first  settler 
was  George  Palmer,  who  located  on  Sec.  29,  in  the  year 
1827.  The  first  store  was  carried  on  and  owned  by  a 
man  named  Tibbies,  who  emigrated  from  one  of  the 
Eastern  States. 

The  town  of  DuBois  was  laid  out  in  1853  by  L.  I. 
Bridges,  J.  W.  Tilley,  and  D.  and  E.  H.  Topping. 
About  two-thirds  of  the  population  are  Germans  and 
Polanders  ;  the  first  colony  of  the  latter  settled  here  in 
1873,  on  lands  purchased  of  the  railroad  company. 
On  Sec.  27,  on  the  east  side  of  the  "  Little  Muddy 
River,"  on  the  second  bottom,  about  ten  feet  above  high 


36 

water  mark,  are  the  remains  of  an  Indian  burying 
ground,  supposed  to  have  been  used  as  a  place  of 
sepulture  by  the  Kaskaskia  tribe. 

A  coal  shaft  was  sunk  at  DuBois  by  Vose  &  Beard, 
in  1865,  and  a  six-foot  vein  of  coal  was  found  at  the 
depth  of  300  feet. 

TAMAROA.  Named  by  Nelson  Holt,  agent  at 
Tamaroa  since  1855,  and  employed  on  the  road  as  Civil 
engineer  during  its  construction. 

The  Tamarouas  were  one  of  the  five  tribes  compos- 
ing the  Illinois  Confederacy,  which  consisted  of  the 
Moingonas,  Kaskaskias,  Peorias,  Kahokias  and  Tama- 
rouas. These  latter  were  associated  with  the  Kaskas- 
kias and  the  Moingonas,  and  were  located  near  Fort 
Chartres,  on  the  Mississippi. 

ST.  JOHNS.  In  the  year  1856  the  order  of 
ancient  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  had  a  celebration  at 
this  place,  which,  happening  on  St.  John's  Day,  they 
named  the  town  accordingly. 

(St.  John  the  Baptist,  24th  June.) 

DU  QUOIN.  At  the  time  the  road  was  constructed 
there  was  a  small  village  about  five  miles  distant,  from 
which  the  station  took  its  name.  The  word  Quoin  is 
an  old  English  word  synonymous  with  Coign  (modern 
French,  Coin),  meaning  an  external  angle  or  corner ;  as 


37 

Du  Quoin  is  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Perry  county, 
this  may  explain  the  name.  —  Mauriac. 

The  name  means  simply  a  feather,  and  it  is  not  un- 
likely that  Du  Quoin  means  some  particular  kind  of  a 
feather.  Du  may  be  the  French  preposition  —  in  which 
case,  He  of  the  Feather  may  be  the  original  meaning  of 
"  Du  Quoin."  —  Blanchard. 

Du  Quoin  was  a  chief  of  the  Kaskaskias  and 
Peorias,  of  considerable  talent  :  he  wore  a  medal  pre- 
sented to  him  by  Washington,  whom  he  visited  at  Phila- 
delphia. In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  the 
two  tribes  under  his  guidance  emigrated  to  the  south- 
west, and  in  1850  they  were  in  the  Indian  Territory 
and  numbered  84  persons.  —  History  of  Illinois,  by 
Davidson  &  Stuve. 

ELKVILLE.  From  "  Elk  Prairie,"  so  called  from 
the  elk  that  years  ago  frequently  made  their  appear- 
ance on  this  prairie,  attracted  by  the  salt-licks.  Some 
of  the  oldest  settlers  have  seen  elk  about  here,  and 
have  found  a  great  many  elk  horns. 


SOTO.  From  Fernando  de  Soto,  a  Spanish 
explorer,  born  at  Xeres  de  los  Caballeros,  in  Estrema- 
dura,  about  1496  ;  died  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
in  June,  1542,  while  attempting  to  descend  its  banks. 
To  conceal  his  death,  it  is  said,  his  body  was  wrapped  in 
a  mantle  and  sunk  at  midnight  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream. 


38 

BIG  MUDDY.  Water  station  ;  tank  supplied  with 
water  from  "  Big  Muddy  River,"  which  was  discovered 
and  named  by  the  French,  Riviere  du  Vase  or  Vaseux 
(River  of  Mud,  or  Muddy  River). 

CARBONDALE.  In  the  summer  of  1852  the, 
line  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  permanently 
located  through  this  (Jackson)  county.  In  August, 
1852,  Daniel  H.  Brush,  of  Murphysboro,  111.,  desiring 
to  locate  a  town  on  the  line  of  this  road,  associated  with 
himself  L.  W.  Ashley,  (Chief  Engineer  of  the  Southern 
Division  of  the  road),  I.  F.  Ashley,  A.  Buck,  I.  Buck 
Thos.  Barnes,  A.  Connor,  Wm.  Richart,  H.  C.  Long, 
E.  Leavenworth,  James  Koenig,  and  John  Dougherty, 
and  purchased  360  acres  of  land  in  Sections  16  and  21, 
Township  9,  for  that  purpose,  and  on  24th  November, 
1852,  laid  out  the  town  which,  at  the  suggestion  of  D. 
H.  Brush,  (it  being  in  a  coal  region),  was  called  Car- 
bondale.  For  the  purpose  of  convenience,  the  deeds 
were  made  out  in  the  name  of  John  Dougherty,  who 
was  to  act  in  a  fiduciary  capacity  for  his  associates. 
The  railroad  was  completed  to  this  place  from  the 
south  on  the  4th  July,  1854,  when  the  first  locomotive 
came  into  the  town.  The  citizens  gave  a  free  dinner 
and  extended  a  general  invitation,  which  was  responded 
to  by  upwards  of  2,000  men,  women  and  children,  who 
came  from  the  surrounding  country  to  see,  for  the  first 


39 

time  in  the  lives  of  most  of  them,  a  railroad,  locomo- 
tive and  a  train  of  cars. 

The  first  residence  was  erected  by  James  B.  Richart, 
in  1852. 

The  first  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Josiah  Wood, 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  in  December,  1852. 

No  intoxicating  liquors  have  ever  been  sold  as  a 
beverage  in  this  town. — (Carbondalc  Observer,  2d  May, 

T  8«S 
I  o/o. 

BOSKY  DELL.  Fruit  station;  established  in 
1877;  named  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Hawkins,  of  Carbondale, 
who  writes  as  follows  : 

"You  inquire  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name  '  Bosky 
"  Dell.'  There  is  nothing  of  romance  about  it ;  on  the 
"contrary,  the  history  is  very  commonplace.  Consult- 
"  ing  my  dictionary,  one  day,  I  met  with  the  word 
" '  bosky,'  designated  as  obsolete,  a  synonym  for  'brushy/ 
"  I  was  pleased  with  it,  and  not  long  afterwards  in  the 
"course  of  a  sermon,  in  one  of  my  descriptive  illustra- 
tions, I  used  the  words  '  Bosky  Dell.'  A  gentleman 
"  and  lady  of  literary  taste  and  culture,  natives  of  Britain, 
"  who  were  present,  a  few  days  afterwards  called  my 
"  attention  to  it,  expressing  themselves  pleased  with  the 
"  description,  and  especially  with  the  poetic  beauty  of 
"  the  term  '  Bosky  Dell.'  Subsequently,  when  making 
"  a  call  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Samuel  Cleeland,  the  pro- 
"  prietor  of  the  red  sandstone  quarry  and  land  at  that 


40 

"  station,  he  told  me  that  he  had  laid  out  the  ground 
"  for  a  small  village,  and  was  at  a  loss  for  a  name  by 
"  which  to  call  it ;  that  the  surveyor,  Mr.  Newsome, 
41  suggested  '  Lithopolis,'  and  others  suggested  other 
*'  names.  I  remarked  that  '  Lithopolis'  was  a  big,  high- 
"  sounding  name,  already  borne  by  an  obscure  village 
41  in  the  neighborhood  of  Columbus,  Ohio ;  that  the 
4i  other  names  were  common  to  other  localities.  Give 
4i  it  an  original  name,  descriptive  of  the  locality,  and  one 
4'  which  no  other  place  in  Europe  or  America  now 
41  bears.  Call  it  Bosky  Dell.  'Bosky  Dell,'  he  replied, 
4"  Bosky  Dell, —  Bosky  Dell  it  shall  be;'  and  accord- 
"  ingly  he  had  his  papers  made  out  and  recorded  in 
"  that  form." 

MAKANDA.  This  station  derived  its  name  from 
that  of  the  chief  of  the  last  tribe  of  Indians  who  in- 
habited the  section  of  country  about  here.  His  name 
was  "  Makanda." 

COBDEN.  Called  "South  Pass"  prior  to  1859. 
Named  after  Richard  Cobden,  M.  P.,  who  visited  Illi- 
nois and  passed  over  the  road  in  1858.  At  the  time, 
Mr.  Cobden  was  a  large  shareholder  in  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  Company."  He  was  an  English  states- 
man, born  at  Dunford,  near  Midhurst,  Sussex,  3d  June, 
1804;  died  in  London,  2d  April,  1865.  He  traveled 
extensively  during  his  life,  and  wrote  several  books. 


41 

In  1839  ^e  took  a  leading  part  in  establishing  the  well- 
known  Anti-Corn  Law  League;  he  was  a  declared  free- 
trader. First  elected  to  Parliament  in  1841,  his  orator- 
ical ability  and  the  great  extent  and  variety  of  know- 
ledge he  possessed,  upon  all  subjects  connected  with 
trade  and  commerce,  immediately  obtained  for  him  a 
high  place  among  leading  Parliamentary  speakers.  He 
was  also  an  active  member  of  the  Peace  Society.— 
Applctoris  Encyclopedia. 

ANNA.  From  Mrs.  Anna  Davie,  wife  of  Mr.  Win- 
stead  Davie  of  Jonesboro,  111.,  who  has  held  office  as 
County  Clerk,  Clerk  of  Circuit  Court,  Probate  Judge 
and  Postmaster,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  town  of 
Anna. 

County  seat  of  Union  county;  established  25th  Feb- 
ruary, 1818. 

DONGOLA.  So  named  by  Mr.  Leavenworth,  after 
Dongola  in  Africa.  There  was  no  other  place  of  the 
same  name  in  the  United  States  at  the  time. 

AVETAUG.  Named  by  George  Watson,  Division 
Superintendent,  who  formerly  lived  in  a  small  town  of 
that  name  in  Massachusetts. 

In  Ojibway  dialect,  the  word  means  a  Gambler: 
probably  named  after  some  Indian  given  to  gaming. 

There  is  a  large  mineral  spring  near  here  about  100 


42 


feet  deep;    the  volume  of  water  never  diminishes,  even 
during  dry  weather. 


ULLIN.  Ullin  was  Fingal's  bard,  and  is  de- 
scribed in  several  of  Ossian's  poems  as  one  of  the  eight 
heroes  of  Ossian,  and  as  "  Ullin,  Stormy  Son  of  War." 


PULASKI.  (Pulaski  county.)  After  Count  Casi- 
mir  Pulaski,  a  Polish  soldier,  bornin  Lithuania,  March  4, 
1747.  He  fought  desperately  for  the  liberation  of  Po- 
land, but  the  coalition  of  Austria,  Prussia  and  Russia  for 
that  country's  dismemberment  made  resistance  hopeless. 
Pulaski  escaped  to  Turkey,  thence  to  France  where  he 
offered  his  services  to  Franklin  in  the  American  cause. 
With  high  recommendations  to  General  Washington, 
he  arrived  at  Philadelphia  in  the  summer  of  1777,  en- 
tered the  army  as  a  volunteer  and  so  distinguished  him- 
self that,  after  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  he  was  made 
commander  of  the  cavalry  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 
General.  He  subsequently  resigned  his  commission  and 
organized  a  corps  of  cavalry  and  light  infantry  which 
became  famous  as  "  Pulaski's  Legion."  He  died  in  the 
attack  on  Savannah,  4th  March,  1779.  A  monument 
to  his  memory,  voted  by  Congress,  has  never  been 
erected,  but  one  was  raised  by  the  citizens  of  Georgia 
in  Savannah. 


43 

VILLA  RIDGE.  (High  land  north  of  Cairo.) 
Named  by  the  daughter  of  a  Doctor  Arter,  after  their 
farm  which  they  called  "Villa  Ridge."  The  Doctor 
settled  on  his  farm,  about  one  mile  west  of  the  present 
station,  in  1837.  They  had  the  first  frame  house  and 
the  first  glass  windows  in  the  settlement. 

MOUNDS.  So  called  because  ancient  Indian 
mounds  are  found  hereabout.  The  remains  of  some 
of  these  are  still  to  be  seen.  The  post-office  at 
this  place  is  called  "  Junction,"  being  the  junction  with 
the  Mound  City  Railroad,  now  the  property  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  Railroad  Company. 

CAIRO.  In  1818  John  Comegys,  Shadrach  Bond 
and  others,  entered  1,800  acres  of  land  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  River,  and  obtained  from  the  Territorial 
Legislature  a  charter  under  the  name  of  the  "  City  and 
Bank  of  Cairo."  By  the  death  of  Comegys,  it  reverted 
to  the  government.  In  1835  Sidney  Breese,  David  J. 
Baker  and  Miles  A.  Gilbert  entered  the  forfeited  Bank 
tract  and  transferred  it  to  the  Cairo  City  and  Canal 
Company,  whose  charter  was  obtained  in  1837.  They 
also  purchased  the  interests  of  William,  John  and 
Thomas  Bird  in  adjoining  land,  increasing  their  tract 
to  10,000  acres.  They  negotiated  a  loan  for  $2,000,000 
in  England,  in  1837,  and  expended  it  for  levees,  mills, 
etc.  Mortgage  incumbrance  preventing  sale  of  lots,  in 


44 

1846  Thomas  S.  Taylor,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Charles 
Davis,  of  New  York,  were  made  Trustees  to  improve 
and  sell  the  property.  The  trust  eventually  reverted 
to  Samuel  Staats  Taylor,  of  Cairo,  and  Edwin  Parsons, 
of  New  York,  the  lots  first  coming  into  market  in  1853. 
The  town  was  platted  finally  in  1858. 

Dickens  refers  to  Cairo  in  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  styl- 
ing it  "  Eden." 

EAST  DUBUQUE.  Formerly  called  "Dunleith," 
and  was  so  named  by  a  Scotch  lady  of  Dubuque,  who 
fancied  that  in  the  broken  and  picturesque  appearance 
of  the  country  she  saw  a  striking  likeness  to  that  once 
possessed  by  a  famous  old  Scotch  laird  of  Dunleath. 

It  is  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  opposite  the  city  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  with  which 
it  is  connected  by  the  bridge  of  the  Dunleith  and  Du- 
buque Bridge  Company,  completed  on  the  ist  Janu- 
ary, 1869. 

MENOMINEE.  After  the  Menominee  tribe 
(wild-rice-eaters),  belonging  to  the  Algonquin  family, 
and  from  their  first  discovery  to  the  present  century 
residing  on  the  Menominee  River,  which  empties  into 
Green  Bay,  Wisconsin,  their  name  being  that  of  the 
wild  rice  on  which  they  in  great  part  subsisted. 

GALENA  derives  its  name  from  the  sulphuret  of 
lead  which  abounds  in  this  locality  ;  it  is  the  centre 


45 

of  the  region  known  as  the  Galena  lead  mines,  and  is 
situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Galena  (formerly  called 
Fevre,  from  an  early  French  trader,  Le  Fevre,  and  not 
from  fever,  sickness,  as  some  have  supposed),  six  miles 
from  its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi  River.  The 
discovery  of  lead  ore  in  this  region  is  attributed  to 
Le  Sueur,  who  made  a  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  in 
1 700  for  the  purpose,  it  is  said,  of  discovering  ores. 

The  town  was  laid  out  in  1827  and  incorporated  as 
a  city  in  1839.  1°  !^54  tnere  were  27,285,000  pounds 
of  pig  lead  shipped  from  here  valued  at  $1,300,075. 
From  1845  to  !^47  (th6  years  of  maximum  production) 
the  quantity  of  lead  made  into  pigs  was  even  larger. 

COUNCIL  HILL.  Indians  held  councils  here. 
Near  the  station  is  a  large  rock,  from  which  "  Black 
Hawk"  is  said  to  have  addressed  his  braves  for  the 
last  time. 

SCALES  MOUND.  From  a  large  mound  about 
one-half  a  mile  from  the  station,  owned  by  a  man 
named  Samuel  Scales. 

APPLE  RIVER.  La  Pomme,  or  Apple  River,  so 
called  from  the  number  of  crab-apple  trees  on  its  banks. 
This  stream  empties  into  the  Mississippi  River.  At  a 
point  2^  miles  east  of  the  station,  the  main  track  of 


46 

the  Illinois  Central  road  is  245  feet  from  the  Wisconsin 
State  line. 

A  German  named  Apple  was  killed  near  here  during 
the  Black  Hawk  war  ;  the  station  and  the  river  may 
have  taken  the  name  from  him. 

WARREN.  Called  Courtland  prior  to  1853  or 
1854.  The  name  was  changed  by  the  citizens  to 
"  Warren,"  in  honor  of  Warren  Burnett,  son  of  Capt. 
Alexander  Burnett,  the  first  male  child  born  in  the 
town. 

NORA.  Named  by  R.  B.  Mason,  Chief  Engineer, 
at  the  request  of  John  M.  Douglas,  Esq.,  who  remarked 
that  as  it  was  a  very  small  place,  he  preferred  a  very 
small  name.  Mr.  Douglas  has  a  large  farm  in  the 
vicinity. 

There  is  a  place  named  "  Elizabeth  "  eighteen  miles 
south  of  Nora,  which  established  a  precedent  for  adopt- 
ing a  woman's  name  for  the  town  of  Nora. 

WADAMS  GROVE.  William  Waddams  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Stephenson  county.  He 
came  from  New  York  State  about  1828.  Station  orig- 
inally called  "  West  Point,"  then  "  Sada,"  and  finally 
"Wadams  Grove.  As  late  as  1849,  a^  lands  here- 
abouts belonged  to  the  United  States  Government,  and 
a  Seth  Waddams  lived  here  then. 


47 

LENA.  This  name  occurs  in  and  was  taken  from 
Ossian's  poem  of  "  Fingal."  It  is  the  place  where  a 
great  battle  was  fought  in  Ireland  between  Fingal  and 
Swaran,  in  which  the  latter  was  defeated.  It  was  evi- 
dently a  healthy  plain  near  the  shore.  "  He  moved 
first  towards  the  plain  of  Lena  "  ;  on  "  Lena's  echoing 
heath."  The  town  was  laid  out  by  Samuel  J.  Dodds 
in  1853  ;  he  kept  a  hotel  here  in  1850. 

ELEROY.  A  man  named  Hiram  Jones,  who  came 
from  Utica,  New  York,  and  settled  in  this  locality  in 
1846,  had  a  son  named  Leroy,  after  whom  he  named 
the  town. 

FREEPORT.  In  the  latter  part  of  1837  the 
county  seat  of  Stephenson  county  was  established  at 
Frecport,  the  town  was  that  year  formally  named. 
It  had  previously  been  known  as  "  Winneshiek," 
the  name  of  the  chief  of  a  band  of  from  two  to  three 
hundred  Indians,  who  had  a  village  here  in  1827, 
and  whose  burying  ground  is  where  the  Illinois 
Central  Company's  freight  house  now  stands.  Then 
the  settlement  consisted  of  but  a  few  'houses.  The 
tavern  (in  fact  but  not  in  name)  was  the  residence  of 
William  Baker,  who  built  the  first  house  in  1836,  at 
which  new  comers  were  hospitably  entertained,  often 
without  charge.  Mrs.  Baker  finally  began  to  tire  of 
her  husband's  promiscuous  hospitality,  and,  one 


48 

morning  at  breakfast,  rechristened  the  settlement 
"  Free  Port,"  by  which  generous  title,  ironically  applied 
it  has  since  been  known. — History  of  Stephenson  County. 
L.  W.  Guiteau  (father  of  Charles  J.  Guiteau,  the 
assassin  of  James  A.  Garfield,  President  of  the  United 
States),  settled  here  in  1837.  He  was  Deputy  Clerk  of 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Stephenson  county  in  1852  and 
Freight  Agent  of  the  "  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Rail- 
road "  at  this  station  in  1 853.  Freeport  was  incorporated 
as  a  village  in  1850  and  as  a  city  in  1855. 

BAILEYVILLE.  Named  after  Q.  Bailey,  who 
was  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  located  here  in  1848. 

FORESTON.  Laid  out  by  D.  A.  Neal,  of  Bev- 
erly, Mass.,  in  1854,  at  which  time  there  were  several 
forests  of  trees  thereabouts.  Isaac  Chambers,  who 
located  near  here  in  1829,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
white  man  to  inhabit  Ogle  county. 

HALDANE.  After  Alexander  Haldane,  Station. 
Agent  and  neighboring  land  owner.  He  was  born  in 
June,  1804,  in  Leith,  Scotland.  He  emigrated  to  New 
York  in  1835  and  located  in  Ohio  four  years  later. 
In  1849  he  removed  to  Jacksonville,  111.,  and  entered 
into  the  lumber  business.  Four  years  later,  in  company 
with  a  Mr.  Scott,  he  went  to  Pecatonica,  111.,  and  thence 
to  Dixon,  still  continuing  the  same  business.  In  1855 


49 

he  purchased  an  interest  in  300  acres  of  land  lying  near 
this  place,  and  in  May,  1856,  a  warehouse  and  side-track 
having  been  built,  he  opened  a  grain  and  lumber  ware- 
house. In  January,  1858,  a  station  was  established 
and  he  was  appointed  Agent,  a  position  he  now  holds. 


POLO.  Named  after  Marco  Polo,  the  famous  Ve- 
netian traveler,  by  Hon.  Zenas  Aplington,  the  origi- 
nal proprietor  of  the  land.  He  was  contractor  for  the 
construction  of  the  Illinois  Central  Road,  his  contract 
extending  eight  miles  north  and  south  of  Polo.  The 
town  was  incorporated  in  1856,  and  is  said  to  be  the 
only  town  of  this  name  in  the  United  States. 

WOOSUNG.  A  town  in  China:  the  station 
here  was  named  by  Capt.  Anderson,  the  Agent,  who 
formerly  sailed  between  New  York  and  China. 

NORTH  DIXON.  North  of  "  Dixon "  proper, 
and  located  on  north  side  of  Rock  River. 

DIXON.  "  Father"  John  Dixon  was  the  first 
white  settler  in  Lee  county.  He  went  there  in  1830 
and  kept  the  ferry  across  Rock  River.  He  donated  to 
the  city  the  eighty  acres  of  land  now  within  the  city 
limits  and  upon  which  the  Court  House  stands.  He 
died  about  1876,  universally  loved  and  regretted;  the 


50 

inhabitants  of  the  city  evinced  their  respect  for  his 
memory  by  suspending  business,  closing  their  stores 
and  joining  in  the  funeral  procession. 

ELDENA.  In  honor  of  Mrs.  Eldena  Van  Epps, 
wife  of  a  former  owner  of  the  lands. 

AMBOY.  After  Amboy,  New  Jersey.  It  is  said 
to  be  a  Delaware  Indian  word,  signifying  "a  bowl." 

A  Frenchman  named  Filamalee  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  white  settler  in  the  present  limits  of  Amboy 
township.  Some  of  the  early  settlers  remember  his 
shanty  about  a  mile  south  of  Rock  Ford,  and  have  not 
forgotten  the  mortar  made  in  a  burr-oak  stump,  in  which 
he  pounded  his  corn  for  bread. 

The  beginning  of  the  settlement  at  this  site  was  made 
in  1838,  by  John  Sawyer,  who  built  a  cabin  on  the  bank 
of  the  creek.  The  survey  for  the  town  plat  was  com- 
pleted 24th  March,  1854.  The  company  have  their 
principal  machine  shops  for  the  North  Division  at  this 
point. 

SUBLETTE.  In  a  history  of  Lee  county  it  is 
said  that  the  town  was  first  called  "Hamo."  The  rail- 
road company  having  named  the  station  Sublette,  it  was 
desired  to  have  the  name  of  the  township  correspond, 
and  it  was  accordingly  changed.  This  name  was  first 
employed,  it  is  said,  because  of  the  frequent  sub-letting 


51 

of  the  contract  for  the  grading  (which  is  very  heavy 
between  this  point  and  Mendota,)  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad.  The  settlement  of  the  township  dates  from 

1837- 

MENDOTA.  Indian  term,  meaning  junction  of 
two  trails,  paths  or  roads.  Named  by-T.  B.  Blackstone, 
now  President  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  Com- 
pany, who  was  in  1853  one  of  the  Division  Engi- 
neers employed  in  the  construction  of  the  Central  Road. 

Crossing  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Rail- 
road. 

DIMICK.  "Homer"  prior  to  1875;  named  after 
one  of  the  first  settlers  in  this  vicinity.  He  spelled 
his  name  Dimmick, 

LASALLE.  Rene-Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  la 
Salle.  La  Salle  was  the  name  of  an  estate  near  Rouen, 
belonging  to  the  Caveliers. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  explorers  whose  name 
lives  in  history.  Born  in  Rouen  in  November,  1643,116 
died  at  the  hands  of  assassins  on  a  southern  branch  of 
the  Trinity  River,  Texas,  igth  March,  1687. 

OGLESBY.  In  honor  of  Gov.  Richard  J.  Oglesby, 
who  was  born  25th  July,  1824,  in  Oldham  county,  Ken- 
tucky. He  was  Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois  from 


52 

i6th  January,  1865,  to  iith  January,  1869;  re-elected 
in  1873,  and  afterward  elected  United  States  Senator. 
In  1861  he  was  elected  Colonel  of  the  8th  Regiment 
Illinois  Volunteers,  was  afterward  promoted  for  gallant- 
ry at  Fort  Donelson  to  a  Brigadier-Generalship,  and 
in  1863,  to  the  rank  of  Major-General  of  Volunteers. 

TONIC  A.  From  the  "  Tonicas"  or  "Tunicas,"  a 
tribe  of  Indians  which,  in  1713,  were  located  on  the 
Mississippi  River,  about  18  leagues  (French)  south  of 
the  well-known  Natchez  tribe,  which  gave  the  French 
colonists  considerable  trouble  during  the  early  history 
of  Louisiana.  Natchez,  Miss.,  is  279  miles  north  from 
New  Orleans  by  river  ;  reckoning  three  miles  to  a 
league,  would  place  the  "  Tunicas"  at  a  point  about  225 
miles,  by  river,  from  New  Orleans.  But  there  is  now 
in  the  Mississippi  River  (in  Louisiana)  an  island  called 
"Tunica  Island,"  and  six  miles  up  the  river  from  this 
island  is  a  landing  known  as  "Tunica,"  near  a  bayou 
bearing  the  same  name ;  the  distance  from  New  Or- 
leans, by  river,  to  this  landing  is  205  miles. — Mauriac. 

In  the  Ojibway  Indian  dialect,  the  word  signifies 
a  place  inhabited. 

LOSTANT.  After  the  Countess  of  Lostant,  wife 
of  Baron  Mercier,  French  Minister  at  Washington,  who 
in  company  with  Prince  Napoleon,  visited  Illinois  in 
1861. 


53 

WENONA.  Hiawatha's  mother,  daughter  of  No- 
komis. 

"  '  See!  a  star  falls,'  said  the  people ; 
44  '  From  the  sky  a  star  is  falling!" 
"  There  among  the  ferns  and  mosses, 
"  There  among  the  prairie  lilies, 
41  On  the  Muskoday,  the  meadow, 
44  In  the  moonlight  and  the  starlight, 
44  Fair  Nokomis  bore  a  daughter. 
4<  And  she  called  her  name  Wenonah, 
44  As  the  first-born  of  her  daughters." 

— Hiawatha's  Childhood. 

RUTLAND.  Originally  called  "New  Rutland," 
and  so  named  by  the  settlers  who  came  from  Rutland, 
Vermont. 

MI  MONK.  This  name  appears  on  a  map  pub- 
lished by  Thevenot  as  "  Marquette's"  (but  not  on  Mar- 
quettcs  map).  It  doubtless  is  of  Indian  origin. 

In  Ojibway  dialect  it  means  good  place — mino(good), 
onk  (place). — Blanchard. 

WOODFORD.  Named  by  Peter  Rockwell,  after 
the  name  of  the  county.  The  county  was  named  by 
Thomas  Bullock,  the  first  settler,  (who  surveyed  and 
laid  it  out  in  1841),  after  Woodford  county,  Ky.,  his 
former  place  of  residence.  The  Illinois  Central  was 
the  first  railroad  built  in  this  county.  At  its  comple- 
tion, in  1852,  the  rapid  development  and  prosperity  of 
the  county  began. 


54 

PANOLA.  Named  by  J.  B.  Calhoun,  by  placing 
the  vowels  a,  o,  a,  and  filling  in  with  the  consonants  p, 
n,  1,  making  Panola. 

EL  PASO.  Named  by  Geo.  L.  Gibson,  one  of 
the  original  land  owners,  after  El  Paso,  New  Mexico. 
In  Spanish,  the  words  mean  "  The  Pass." 

KAPPA.  The  "  Kappas"  were  a  tribe  of  Indians, 
first  mentioned  by  Garcilasso,  the  historian  of  De  Soto, 
on  his  route  of  discovery  in  1539  to  1542.  They  were 
below  the  point  where  De  Soto  discovered  the  Missis- 
ippi  River  in  May,  1541.  They  are  next  reported  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Arkansas  River  by  Joutel,  on 
his  way  back  to  the  Illinois  country,  after  the  assassina- 
tion of  La  Salle,  in  Texas,  in  1687.  They  are  next  re- 
ported by  Jed.  Morse  in  Southern  Illinois  .in  1797; 
whence  they  were  subsequently  driven  by  the  Illinois 
tribes.  It  is  probable  that  the  Qziapaws,  who  are  now 
located  on  their  reservation  in  the  Indian  Territory, 
are  the  last  remnants  of  this  tribe,  whose  name  has  been 
corrupted  less  than  their  morals. — Blanchard, 

HUDSON.  "The  Illinois  Land  Association,"  as 
it  was  called,  was  organized  at  Jacksonville,  111.,  6th 
February,  1836,  by  Horatio  N.  Pettit,  John  Gregory, 
George  F.  Durkitt  and  a  number  of  others,  these  three 
being  appointed  a  committee  of  general  superintend- 


56 

ence.  Each  member  of  the  colony  paid  $235  for  a 
share  in  the  enterprise.  For  this,  he  was  entitled  to  re- 
ceive 1 60  acres  of  land,  four  town  lots  in  the  prospective 
village  of  Hudson,  and  a  share  in  the  net  profits  of  the 
undertaking.  Some  twenty  of  the  original  shareholders 
became  actual  settlers.  Among  these  were  Horatio  N. 
Pettit,  John  Gregory,  John  Magotten,  James  Robinson, 
Oliver  March,  James  and  Joseph  Gildersleeve,  Jacob 
Burtis  and  Samuel  P.  Cox.  The  originators  of  the  en- 
terprise were  many  of  them  from  near  Hudson,  New 
York,  and  the  name  was  given  the  new  village  in  honor 
of  their  old  home.  The  village  survey  was  completed 
about  4th  July,  1836. — History  of  McLean  County. 
On  a  map  of  Illinois,  published  in  1857,  there  is  a  village 
called  "  Hudson's  Settlement,"  a  short  distance  east  of 
the  present  station. 


NORMAL.  The  original  name  of  this  township 
was  "  North  Bloomington,"  but  was  changed  to  Normal 
after  the  State  Normal  University  was  located  here. 
The  University  was  established  by  an  act  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  approved  i8th  February,  1857,  and  went 
into  operation  5th  Oct.,  1857.  It  will  seat  270  pupils 
in  the  Normal  Department,  and  225  in  the  Model  School 
Department.  The  lands,  comprising  160  acres,  were 
donated,  as  was  also  the  cost  of  the  buildings,  about 
$  1 50,000. 


56 

BLOOMINGTON.  A  large  tract  of  land  in  this 
county  (McLean),  extending  over  the  present  location 
of  the  city,  was  formerly  known  as  "  Keg's  Grove." 
Wm.  OrendorfT,  who  came  from  below  the  Sangamon, 
located  in  this  "grove"  in  May,  1823.  Mrs.  Orendorff, 
a  lady  of  considerable  culture,  disliking  the  name  "  Keg," 
suggested  that  it  be  changed  to  "  Blooming  Grove," 
which  was  agreed  upon  in  1824. 

James  Allen,  one  of  the  early  settlers,  bought  the 
land  on  which  the  original  village  was  located  and 
opened  a  store,  at  that  time  that  only  trading  place  for 
this  section  of  country,  and,  in  1829,  he  succeeded  in 
securing  the  location  of  the  county  seat  of  McLean  county 
upon  his  land,  and  called  it  "  Bloomington,"  from 
"  Blooming  Grove." 

The  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  have  shops  here 
employing  700  men.  The  Wesleyan  University  build- 
ings, located  here,  cost  $200,000.  The  Court  House, 
a  handsome  building,  cost  $400,000.  The  city  is  sup- 
plied with  water  from  a  subterranean  river,  the  water- 
works being  north  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad 
Company's  passenger  station. 


HENDRIX.  Named  in  honor  of  John  Hendrix, 
the  first  settler  in  the  present  limits  of  McLean  county, 
wrho  came  here  in  the  early  part  of  1822.  The  station 
is  located  on  land  which  was  originally  part  of  his  claim. 


57 

RANDOLPH.  Named  after  Gardner  Randolph, 
one  of  the  early  settlers  in  this  locality.  Randolph's 
Grove  is  situated  about  three  miles  southeast  of  here. 
The  township  is  likewise  called  Randolph.  Station 
established  in  1860  as  "Fielders;"  changed  to  "Ran- 
dolph" in  1862. 

HEYWORTH.  In  honor  of  Lawrence  Heyworth, 
M.  P.,  of  Yew  Tree,  near  Liverpool,  England.  He 
visited  Illinois  in  1856  and  became  a  large  stockholder 
in  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  Originally  called 
"  Elmwood." 

WAPELLA.  After  Wapello,  chief  of  the  Foxes, 
subordinate  to  Keokuk,  (principal  chief  of  the  Sacs 
and  Foxes).  Wapello  wisely  cast  his  lot  with  Keokuk, 
remaining  with  him  west  of  the  Mississippi,  at  peace 
with  the  Americans,  when  Black  Hawk  invaded  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin  in  1832.  In  the  summer  of  the  next 
year,  when  Black  Hawk  was  brought  back  from  Wash- 
ington, a  prisoner  of  war,  to  be  returned  to  his  tribe, 
a  council  was  convened  by  Major  Garland  at  Fort 
Armstrong,  Rock  Island,  for  the  purpose  of  reconciling 
Black  Hawk  to  the  rule  of  Keokuk.  Wapello  used  his 
influence  on  that  occasion  to  soften  the  harshness  and 
asperity  resulting  from  the  old  quarrel  between  Keokuk 
and  Black  Hawk,  and  to  mitigate  the  humiliation  of  the 
latter  on  his  return. 


58 

The  signification  of  his  name,  according  to  Drake,  is 
"  The  Little  Prince,"  but  those  who  have  made  Indian 
names  a  study  would  give  it  other  meanings.  Waup  or 
Waub,  in  Sauk  dialect,  means  "  He  that  is  painted  white." 

There  are  still  living  men  who  remember  Wapello 
as  a  candid  and  consistent  friend  to  the  Americans  on 
all  occasions. — Blanchard. 


CLINTON.  In  honor  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  after 
whom  the  county  was  also  named  De  Witt.  An 
American  statesman,  born  at  Little  Britain,  New  Wind- 
sor, Orange  county,  New  York,  2d  March,  1769;  died 
in  Albany,  nth  February,  1828.  He  was  at  one  time 
Mayor  of  New  York  city  ;  was  also  in  the  Senate  of  that 
State  and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  In  1 8 1 6  he 
was  elected  Governor  of  New  York,  and  again  in  1819. 
On  4th  July,  1817,  he  broke  ground,  with  his  own 
hands,  for  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal,  a  measure 
which  he  had  advocated  with  great  earnestness,  and  in 
October,  1825,  he  was  carried  in  a  barge  through  the 
completed  canal,  while  bells  rang  and  cannon  saluted 
him  at  every  stage  of  that  imposing  progress. 

A  grateful  people  mourned  his  death  with  all  the 
pomp  of  national  sorrow,  and  posterity  cherishes  his 
memory  with  the  homage  deserved  by  a  benefactor  of 
mankind. 


59 

MAROA.  The  Maroas,  like  the  Kaskaskias  and 
others,  were  a  sub-tribe  of  the  aggregation  of  savages 
known  as  the  ////;//. 

EMERY.  After  Charles  F.  Emery,  a  neighboring 
land  owner  who  was  born  near  Ithaca,  New  York.  He 
settled  in  Illinois,  west  of  Maroa,  in  1856. 

FORSYTH.  After  Robert  Forsyth,  General 
Freight  Agent  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  from 
1856  to  1865. 

DECATUR.  In  honor  of  Commodore  Stephen 
Decatur,  who  was  born  5th  January,  1779.  He  was 
killed  in  a  duel  fought  March  22d,  1820,  near  Bla- 
densburg,  Maryland,  with  Commcdore  James  Barron, 
U.  S.  N. 

ELWIN,  formerly  called  "  Wheatland,"  is  in 
the  township  of  South  Wheatland,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  an  extensive  wheat  tract  ;  its  name  "  Wheatland  " 
was  proposed  in  the  County  Board  by  Robert  Carpen- 
ter, and  no  objection  being  raised,  it  was  so  called. 

The  post-office  at  this  place  was  called  South  Wheat- 
land,  but  owing  to  the  confusion  of  mail  matter  between 
this  place  and  East  Wheatland,  in  Will  county,  111.,  the 
name  was  changed  to  Elwin.  This  did  not  relieve  the 
difficulty,  however,  and  in  1880  the  name  of  the  town 


60 

was   changed    to   Elwin,  from  the  names  of  two  men, 
Elwood  and  Martin,  the  founders  of  the  town. 

MACON.  After  Macon  county,  which  was  named 
in  honor  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  Macon  of  North  Carolina, 
whose  fame,  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  county, 
extended  throughout  the  nation.  He  was  born  in 
Warren  county,  North  Carolina,  in  1757,  and  died 
there  2Qth  June,  1837. 

WALKER.  After  J.  W.  Walker,  through  whose 
influence  a  side-track  was  placed  here.  The  station 
was  called  "  Willow  Branch,"  (the  name  of  a  small 
creek  in  the  neighborhood),  until  June  6th,  1882,  when 
it  was  changed  to  Walker  to  conform  with  the  post- 
office. 

MOAWEQU A.  From  Flat  Branch,  a  small  stream 
one  and  a  half  miles  south  of  the  station,  called  by  the 
Indians  Moawequa.  It  means  literally,  "  she  that 
weeps,"  from  mow  (to  weep)  and  equa  (woman)  ; 
mowe  (wolf),  equa  (woman) — literally,  weeping  woman 
— the  wolves  always  crying  out  or  weeping.  The  South 
Fork  of  the  Sangamon  (Pottawatomie)  River  bears  this 
name. 

RADFORD.  After  George  Radford,  neighboring 
land  owner.  Station  established  in  1874. 


61 

ASSUMPTION.  Called  "Tacusah"  until  1859  : 
changed  to  "  Assumption  "  at  the  request  of  E.  E. 
Malhiot  of  Assumption,  Canada,  who  purchased  a  large 
tract  of  land  here. 

Assumption,  a  festival  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
instituted  to  commemorate  the  ascent  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  into  Heaven.  From  a  very  early  period  it  has 
been  a  belief  in  the  Western  and  Oriental  churches 
that,  after  death,  the  Virgin  was  taken  up,  body  and 
soul,  into  Heaven.  This  event  is  called  in  the  ancient 
ecclesiastical  writings  the  "  Assumption  passage "  or 
"  reposi,"  and  is  mentioned  by  various  early  authors, 
among  whom  are  St.  Gregory  of  Tours,  in  the  sixth 
century,  and  Andrew  of  Crete,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighth  century.  The  date  of  the  institution  of  the 
festival  is  unknown,  but  it  is  mentioned  as  having  been 
celebrated  with  great  solemnity  before  the  sixth  century 
both  in  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  It  falls  on  the  i5th 
August. — Appletoris  Encylop&dia.  This  station  was 
settled  largely  by  Roman  Catholics. 

DUNKEL.  After  Elias  Dunkel,  Agent,  and  neigh- 
boring land  owner.  He  was  born  5th  January,  1849,  m 
Pickaway  county,  Ohio  ;  his  father  emigrated  to  Me- 
nard  county,  111.,  in  1852.  In  1872  he  removed  to 
Christian  county,  where  he  now  resides.  In  1875  ne 
constructed  a  side  track  and  the  necessary  station  build- 
ings, and  was  appointed  Agent  in  1879. 


62 

PANA.  In  Father  Anastasius  Douay's  narrative 
of  La  Salle's  attempt  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  in  1687, 
given  in  "  Discovery  and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  by  John  Gilmary  Shea,"  mention  is  made  of  an 
Indian  tribe  of  this  name,  which  he  locates  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  "  Pani  "  tribe  were  called  "  Towia- 
ches "  by  the  Spanish.  In  1750  they  were  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  Missouri.  In  1804  Lewis  Clarke 
reported  them  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Red  River, 
where  they  raised  abundance  of  corn,  and  had  many 
captives  among  them  taken  from  the  Spanish  when 
children. — Blanchard. 

St.  Louis,  Alton  &  Terre  Haute  Railroad  track 
completed  east  to  this  point  23d  August,  1855. 

OCONEE.  From  Oconee,  the  daughter  of  an 
Indian  chief.  "  Oconee  "  is  the  Shawanese  word  for 
bone.  — Blanchard, 

RAMSEY.  In  honor  of  Alexander  Ramsay.  He 
was  born  near  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  8th  September,  1815. 
In  his  boyhood  he  worked  at  the  carpenter  trade, 
but  having  a  fair  education,  he  was  appointed,  in  1828, 
a  clerk  in  the  office  of  Register  of  Dauphin  county, 
Pa.  Having  a  strong  talent  for  active  political  work, 
he  was  soon  conspicuous  in  organizing  Whig  clubs. 
He  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Electoral 


63 

College  in  1840.  Was  a  clerk  of  the  lower  house  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  for  several  years;  and  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  1843  to  l&47-  ^n  I&49  ne  was 
appointed,  by  President  Taylor,  Governor  of  Minnesota 
Territory.  His  term  ended  in  March,  1853.  In  1855 
he  was  elected  Mayor  of  St.  Paul ;  in  1859  was  elected 
Governor  of  Minnesota,  and  re-elected  in  1861;  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1863,  he  was  appointed  U.  S.  Senator  and  re- 
appointed  in  1869,  his  term  expiring  in  1875.  On  loth 
September,  1879,  President  Hayes  appointed  him  Sec- 
retary of  War,  which  portfolio  he  held  until  Mr.  Gar- 
field's  Cabinet  was  formed. 

VERA.     Called  "Bear  Creek"  prior  to  1874.    Vera 
both  in  Latin  and  Spanish  means  true.     Vcra  Amicitia 
—true  friendship,  in  Latin  ;    Vera  Cruz — true  cross,  in 
Spanish. 

VANDALI A.  By  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly, 
approved  2/th  January,  1821,  this  was  declared  to  be 
the  seat  of  government  for  twenty  years  from  ist 
December,  1820. 

Guy  Beck  and  wife  were  the  first  settlers  within  the 
present  limits  of  Fayette  county;  they  were  both  natives 
of  Kentucky  and  came  to  Illinois  when  it  was  a  Terri- 
tory, locating  in  St.  Clair  county,  near  the  Kahokia 
village,  in  the  year  1809.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 


64 

war  of  1812,  he  enlisted  as  a  ranger  and  served  until 
peace  was  declared.  His  improvements  were  made  on 
Sec.  9,  T.  8,  R.  2. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  at  this  place  was  or- 
ganized 5th  July,  1828,  by  Rev.  Solomon  P.  Hardy,  a 
missionary  sent  out  by  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society. 

The  Vandalia  Intelligencer  was  started  about  1822  ; 
afterwards  succeeded  by  the  Illinois  Intelligencer. 

Vandalia  was  for  about  twenty  years  the  capital  of 
the  State,  which  was  moved  from  Kaskaskia  in  1820 
and  remained  here  until  1839,  when  it  was  removed  to 
Springfield. 

The  town  was  surveyed  and  laid  out  in  July,  1819,  by 
Wm.  C.  Greenup,   Beal  Greenup  and  John  McCullom. 
The  latter  named  his  first  child  Vandalia  McCullom.— 
— History  of  Fayette  County. 

Gov.  Ford  in  his  History  of  Illinois  says,  that  when 
the  capital  was  to  be  moved  from  Kaskaskia,  a  high- 
sounding  name  was  desired  for  a  new  capital.  A  wag 
suggested  that  the  Vandals  were  a  nation  renowned 
in  the  classics,  and  proposed  "Vandalia,"  which  was 
adopted. 

"  It  is  an  extraordinary  fact  that  in  this  town,  the 
"  capital  of  Illinois,  a  State  more  extensive  and  infinitely 
"  more  fertile  than  England,  the  first  house  in  which 
"  was  not  begun  until  the  year  1821,  three  annual  meet- 
"  ings  of  an  antiquarian  and  historical  society  have 


65 

"  already  taken  place,  and  the  whole  of  their  published 
"  proceedings  are  as  regular,  as  well  conducted  and  as 
"  well  printed,  from  the  Blackwell  press  of  Vandalia, 
"  as  if  the  seat  of  the  society  had  been  at  Oxford  or 
"  Cambridge. 

"  Judge  Hall's  second  address  to  the  society  in  1828, 
"  contains  the  following  remarkable  passage :  '  It  is  but 
"  '  eight  years  since  the  axe  was  first  laid  to  the  tree 
"  '  on  the  spot  where  we  are  now  assembled.  All 
"  '  around  was  one  vast  wilderness.  The  gentle  stream 
"  '  that  murmurs  past  our  town  had  never  been  traced 
"  '  through  its  meanders  by  any  but  the  hunters.  A  rich 
"  '  growth  of  majestic  oaks  covered  the  site  of  the  future 
"  '  metropolis,  and  tangled  thickets,  almost  impervious  to 
"  '  the  human  foot,  surrounded  it  on  every  side.  The 
"  '  gentlemen  who  attended  the  first  session  of  the 
"  '  Legislature,  which  sat  at  this  place,  sought  their  way 
"  '  through  the  neighboring  prairies  as  the  mariner  steers 
"  '  over  the  trackless  ocean,  by  his  knowledge  of  the 
"  '  cardinal  points.  Our  judges,  legislators  and  lawyers 
"  '  came  pouring  in  from  opposite  directions,  as  the 
"  '  wandering  tribes  assemble  to  their  council,  and  many 
"  '  were  the  tales  of  adventure  and  mishap  related  at 
"  '  their  meeting.  Some  were  lost  in  the  prairies,  some 
"  '  slept  in  the  woods,  some  were  almost  chilled  to  death 
"  '  in  plunging  through  the  creeks  and  rivers.  Now, 
"  '  we  have  post-roads  diverging  in  every  direction,  and 
"  '  our  mails  are  brought  in  stages  from  the  East,  the 


"  '  West  and  the  South.  The  fine  country  to  the  north 
"  '  was  then  just  beginning  to  attract  attention.  Wonder- 
"  '  ful  accounts  came  to  us  from  the  Sangamon  and  the 
"  '  Mauvais-terre,  [part  of  the  district  of  Morgan  county 
"  '  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jacksonville],  of  rich  lands 
"  '  and  pure  streams,  and  prairies  more  beautiful  than 
"  '  any  which  had  previously  been  discovered.  But 
"  '  those  lands  had  not  yet  been  offered  for  sale  by  the 
"  '  United  States  and  were  not  included  in  the  limits 
"  '  of  any  county.  The  adventurous  settlers  neither 
"  '  owned  the  soil  on  which  they  lived  nor  enjoyed  the 
"  '  benefit  of  any  civil  organization.  What  a  change 
"  '  has  been  produced  in  eight  years  !  The  country 
"  '  which,  previously  to  that  period,  was  known  only  as 
"  '  an  inviting  frontier,  forms  now  the  fairest  portion 
"  '  of  our  State.  A  dozen  counties  have  been  formed 
"  '  in  that  direction  and  within  that  time,  three  of 
"  '  which  rank  among  the  foremost  in  wealth,  improve- 
"  '  ment  and  population.' '  -  Three  Years  in  North 
America,  by  James  Stuart,  Esq.  Edinburgh,  1833. 

SHOBONIER.  The  name  of  an  Indian  chief. 
It  is  derived  from  the  word  Chevalier,  a  name  given 
him  by  the  French,  meaning  "a  horseman,"  or  "gal- 
lant young  man."  In  the  language  of  the  tribe  through 
which  this  name  comes  to  us,  there  is  no  sound 
of  v  or  //  these  sounds  are  supplied  by  b  and  n.  The 


67 

interpreters  introducing  the  name  to  writing  have 
therefore  varied  the  French  orthography  of  the  word 
accordingly,  and  rendered  it  Shobonier. — E.  M.  Haines. 

VERNON.  Established  in  1872;  named  after 
William  Vernon,  Auditor  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company  up  to  1875.  Died  5th  February,  1881. 

PATOKA.  After  Patokah,  an  Indian  chief,  who 
with  his  tribe  lived  at  the  Mineral  Springs,  a  few 
miles  west  of  here.  Their  burial  ground  is  also  near 
the  springs. 

WILSON'S  SIDING.  After  W.  B.  Wilson,  of 
Carrigan,  who  built  a  saw  mill  here  when  the  side  track 
was  finished. 

SANDOVAL.  After  an  old  Mexican  or  Spanish 
chief  :  should  be  pronounced  Sandoval.  The  first 
regular  connection  with  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Road 
was  made  at  this  point,  23d  August,  1855. 


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